Nuclear inspectors leave North Korea

U.N. nuclear inspectors left Pyongyang on Thursday after being ordered out by North Korea, which has raised tensions by calling off a disarmament process.

A spokesman for the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed reports that the four IAEA monitors had departed the reclusive Stalinist country.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog said the four monitors would not speak to reporters and did not disclose their travel plans.

An IAEA spokesman said the inspectors on Wednesday removed all agency seals from equipment at North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear complex and switched off surveillance cameras.

The U.N. Security Council unanimously condemned North Korea's launch of a long-range rocket on April 5, saying the action contravened a U.N. ban and demanding enforcement of existing sanctions against Pyongyang.

North Korea told the IAEA on Tuesday that it had decided to revive all its facilities at its Soviet-era Yongbyon nuclear complex, including the reprocessing plant that produces plutonium for nuclear weapons.

The United States has said the North had also asked American experts overseeing the Yongbyon shutdown under a six-party disarmament-for-aid deal to leave the country.

Analysts have said that the North could have the plutonium plant operating again in as little as three months.