US pays 2.5 million dlrs for NKorean nuclear demolition: official
WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States said Friday it contributed 2.5 million dollars for the demolition of the cooling tower of North Korea's key nuclear reactor as part of a denuclearization effort.
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the sum but could not verify reports that the total cost of the 30-metre (99-foot) tower's demolition was five million dollars as claimed by the North Koreans.
The New York Times said in a report Friday that conservative hard-liners in Washington skeptical of the nuclear deal with North Korea felt the US contribution was too much.
TV footage showed the tower engulfed in a huge cloud of smoke as a landmark piece of the country's nuclear history collapsed in ruins.
"It was a significant and very important step," US State Department official Sung Kim told a reporter at the scene Friday.
"As I saw it, it was a complete demolition."
The cooling tower of the plutonium reactor in Yongbyon, 96 kilometres (60 miles) north of Pyongyang, was the most visible symbol of the communist state's decades-old pursuit of nuclear weapons.
Yongbyon had already been largely disabled under a six-party disarmament pact.
The demolition came a day after the North handed over a long-awaited declaration of its nuclear activities, which led to Washington partially lifting trade sanctions and taking steps to remove Pyongyang from a US terrorism blacklist.
