North Korea said on Thursday it would immediately end a freeze on its nuclear power plant in response to an allied decision to suspend oil aid to Pyongyang. The nuclear reactor, suspected of producing plutonium for nuclear weapons, was frozen in 1994 under the Agreed Framework with the United States. Under the pact, Pyongyang promised to scrap plans to develop nuclear weapons in return for provision of light water nuclear reactors and fuel oil supplies.

"The prevailing situation compelled the DPRK government to lift its measure for nuclear freeze taken on the premise that 500,000 tons of heavy oil would be annually supplied to the DPRK under the DPRK-U.S. Agreed Framework and immediately resume the operation and construction of its nuclear facilities to generate electricity," said the Foreign Ministry statement, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

In October, Washington said Pyongyang had admitted having a secret program to enrich uranium for weapons in violation of the Agreed Framework.

Following Pyongyang's admission, Washington and its allies, including South Korea and Japan, decided to suspend fuel oil shipments to the poverty-stricken country from December.

"Whether the DPRK refreezes its nuclear facilities or not hinges upon the U.S.," said the KCNA statement.

DPRK is the acronym for the communist North's official title, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

South Korea convened a special National Security Council meeting at 3 a.m. EST to analyze the statement, chief presidential spokeswoman Park Sun-sook said in a statement.

A South Korean Unification Ministry spokesman said: "North Korea-U.S. relations are heading toward the end of a cliff, but we have to see if the North is actually about to implement this or if it is using it as a negotiation tactic," the spokesman added.

President Bush branded North Korea, Iraq and Iran this year as part of an "axis of evil" making weapons of mass destruction that could be obtained by terrorist groups

PHOTO CAPTION

The Yongbyon-1 nuclear power plant is shown in this International Atomic Energy Agency file photograph from May 1992. The nuclear reactor, suspected of producing plutonium for nuclear weapons, was frozen in 1994 under the Agreed Framework with the United States. (Reuters - Handout)