Yongbyong cooling tower in 2007- Photo: Internet

(VOVworld) - The world has shown concern over North Korea's announcement on Tuesday that it would restart its main Yongbyon nuclear complex for its atomic weapons program. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that this was another deeply regrettable development, and was in clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions. IAEA spokeswoman Gill Tudor said "Once again, the (IAEA) Director General strongly urges the DPRK to implement fully all relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council and the IAEA Board of Governors". The US said re-activating Yongbyon would be "a clear violation of the Pyongyang’s international obligations and the commitments it made at that time". A US state department spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland described that the prospect of Pyongyang restarting the nuclear facility as "extremely alarming" and that the US will not accept the North Korea as a nuclear state. Speaking in a joint press conference with South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung Se in Washington, US Secretary of State John Kerry said that the US would do what was necessary to defend itself and defend its allies. However, he said the US was ready to resume talks with North Korea if Pyongyang was serious about nuclear disarmament.

Meanwhile, Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui said on Tuesday that China was committed to achieving denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula as well as maintaining its peace and stability. He said China opposed any side making provocative statement or doing anything that could undermine peace and stability on the Peninsula and in the region urging all parties to keep calm and restrained, avoid provocation and refrain from taking any action that risked deterioration of the situation.

In one of latest developments, North Korea on Wednesday banned South Korean workers from entering Kaesong, a joint industrial complex near the demilitarized border, the only remaining symbol of inter-Korean cooperation.