DPRK destroys cooling tower at Yongbyon nuclear complex

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea has destroyed the cooling tower at its Yongbyon nuclear complex. The demolition of the key component of the reactor signals another step in the disablement phase under the September 2005 agreement of the six-party talks.

The 20-meter-tall tower was blown up at 5 p.m. local time.

Journalists from China, the US, Japan, South Korea and Russia, witnessed the event. They were asked not to shoot anything except the explosion of the cooling tower.

DRPK nuclear officials oversaw the explosion along with U.S. State Department official Sung Kim. Kim shook hands with a DPRK official following the tower's tumble to the ground.

Sung Kim, Official US State Department, said, "This symbolizes the 6-party commitment to denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula. This is a very important step in the disablement process and I think it puts us in a good position to move into the next phase"

The audience was then brought to the explosion site for a closer look.

On Thursday, the DPRK submitted the account of its nuclear inventory to China, the chair of the six-party talks.

The United States announced the same day that it may remove the DPRK from its list of state sponsors of terrorism in August, if the country meets all its obligations under the six-party talks.