New Delhi: North Korea missed the Saturday deadline to shut down its plutonium-based nuclear reactor at Yongbyon raising international concerns.
Pyongang had agreed to shut down the reactor and end its nuclear weapons program in February, provided it was returned assets worth $25 million. They were frozen by the US Treasury 18 months ago in a Macau bank.
US approved the transfer of the funds into a North Korean account last month but the money was released just last week.
That left three days for the North Koreans to collect the funds and meet the deadline hoping that North Korea would invite inspectors back to Pyongyang.
The only immediate effect of the missed deadline is that the North Korea will not receive 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil it was promised.
North Korea seems hesitant to commit to give up as many as a dozen nuclear bombs that it may have already made.
A concerned United States sent a message to North Korea through its embassy in China urging it to fulfill commitments in a February disarmament agreement.
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