By Jon Herskovitz
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea is set to blow up the coolingtower at its nuclear plant on Friday, a symbolic move to showits commitment to a disarmament deal a day after it handed overa long-delayed account of its nuclear programme.
Global powers still need to verify the claims Pyongyangmade in its atomic inventory and experts say the dramatic eventwill leave unresolved questions about the North's declaration,such as accounting for its nuclear weaponry.
But shortly after North Korea handed over the list onThursday, the United States responded by saying it would takethe state it once branded as being part of "an axis of evil"off of its terrorism blacklist and ease some sanctions.
The secretive North has invited in five foreign mediaoutlets to witness the destruction of the tower, which isconnected to its Soviet-era reactor. It is expected to comedown in the afternoon local time.
Steam coming from the tower in spy satellite photographshas been the most visible signs of operation at the facility,capable of producing arms-grade plutonium.
"The problem is that they always feel that they cancontinue to game the system and appear to keep the window open-- actions like blowing up cooling towers on TV for propagandaeffect that I'm not sure have much practical effect," saidDerek Mitchell, Asia expert at the Centre for Strategic andInternational Studies.
U.S. President George W. Bush cautiously welcomed thedeclaration but warned North Korea, which tested a nucleardevice in October 2006, that it faced "consequences" if it didnot fully disclose its operations and continue to dismantle itsnuclear programmes.
Responding to an unusual opening by the secretive communiststate, Bush took a step toward removing North Korea from a U.S.list of state sponsors of terrorism and issued a proclamationlifting some sanctions under the Trading with the Enemy Act.
INCREASED INVESTMENT
Once it is removed from the lists, North Korea will be ableto better tap into international finance.
Due to the small size of North Korea's rickety economy, anyincreases in investment and trade could have major effects,experts said, but added increased revenue would likely make itsway to Pyongyang's leaders and further solidify their rule.
U.S. officials acknowledged that the North Koreandeclaration, which came six months after a December deadline,fell short of answering all concerns about Pyongyang's atomicambitions, especially on past nuclear proliferation activities.
Stephen Hadley, Bush's national security adviser, said thestatement revealed the amount of plutonium North Korea hadproduced but did not detail its nuclear arsenal.
But he said U.S. experts could "do the math" and that issuewould be discussed in a further phase of the so calledsix-party talks.
Under a deal North Korea struck with China, Japan, Russia,South Korea and the United States, Pyongyang was required tostart taking apart its Yongbyon nuclear plant and provide thenuclear list by the end of 2007.
U.S. and South Korean officials said North Korea has takenmost of the steps to put the Yongbyon facility -- that includesthe reactor, a plant to make nuclear fuel and another to turnspent fuel into plutonium -- out of business for at least ayear.
"The key issue here is of course verification and what typeof an inspection regime the North Koreans agree to," said LeeChung-min, professor of international relations at YonseiUniversity in Seoul.
"Once we come down to the nitty gritty of inspections, theywill basically try to prolong the process as long as possible,without giving up nuclear weapons."
(Additional reporting by Paul Eckert, Matt Spetalnick andJeremy Pelofsky in Washington; Editing by Nick Macfie and DavidFox)
