Seoul (AsiaNews/Agencies) - North Korea repeated yesterday that it will continue dismantling its military nuclear facilities, after the United States removed the country from the list of state sponsors of terror on October 11. But today, South Korea says that the announced dismantling has not resumed, while criticism continues on the part of Japan.

Washington says that it wants to help the North Korean population, isolated and reduced to hunger, by removing an obstacle to its international legitimacy. The decision had been made in June, but was delayed until U.S. inspectors were permitted to visit places suspected of nuclear activity.

In response, yesterday sources for the North Korean foreign ministry confirmed the resumption of the deactivation of military nuclear structures that produce plutonium, and the permission of access for inspectors.

Today, in any case, Moon Tae-young, a spokesperson for the South Korean foreign ministry, said that "such [disablement] moves have not been detected yet." In September, Seoul blocked the scheduled shipment of 3,000 tons of steel to North Korea, when the country announced that it would reactivate the facility in Yongbyon (in the photo), because it had not been removed from the list of terrorist states. The unification minister, Kim Ho-nyeon, reiterates that the government is considering various forms of aid, including "food aid or steel aid."

Japan has reacted to the U.S. decision with outrage. Tokyo had been asking that this concession be conditional on Pyongyang's openness about Japanese citizens kidnapped during the 1970's and '80s, used to teach Korean spies about Japanese life, who since then have disappeared without a trace. But prime minister Taro Aso has observed that the question could be reconsidered in the "six party talks" about North Korea's nuclear program, in which both countries participate.