U.S.: N. Korea's nukes 'great concern'

WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- The United States is working with allies to ensure North Korea is committed to disabling its nuclear weapons program, the U.S. State Department said.

Talks among the United States and other countries involved in negotiating the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula came after International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei said Monday that North Korea, or the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, asked that the seals and surveillance equipment be removed from the Yongbyon nuclear complex.

"This morning, DPRK authorities asked the agency's inspectors to remove seals and surveillance equipment to enable them to carry out tests at the reprocessing plant, which they say will not involve nuclear material, ElBaradei said on the IAEA Web site.

U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Robert Wood said President George Bush has spoken with (Chinese) President Hu Jintao "and they both agreed they were going to work hard to make sure that the North continues on the path established."

Diplomatic discussions would be ongoing about the matter.

"(The) North says a lot of things," Wood said. "This is an issue of great concern to all of us. And we want to make sure that the North lives up to its obligations, one of which is providing a verification regime that we're still waiting on.