N Korea makes new nuclear demand

North Korea says it needs power from Yongbyon

North Korea has asked the world's nuclear watchdog to remove security seals and take away surveillance cameras from a nuclear power station.

North Korea badly needs foreign aid

The request to the International Atomic Energy Agency comes a day after the secretive Stalinist state announced it was reactivating the plant at Yongbyon, mothballed under a 1994 agreement with the United States.

North Korea said it was needed nuclear power from Yongbyon to make up for the electricity shortfall caused by the ending of US heavy oil shipments.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer described the move as "regrettable" but said it would not force Washington into dialogue with Pyongyang.

No war talk

President George W Bush has denied that the US is guilty of double standards in using diplomatic pressure to isolate North Korea, while warning of war against Iraq.

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"Not every issue requires a potential military response," he said, in an interview with ABCNews to be broadcast on Friday.

"I hope the American people are beginning to see we deal with each issue different ways," he said, speaking before the latest North Korean announcement.

The nuclear dispute is the second downturn in US-North Korean relations this week, after US military temporarily seized a ship carrying North Korean Scud missiles bound for Yemen.

The BBC's Matt Frei says that war is not an option in North Korea, which has a million men under arms.

Any conflict would risk sparking a new Korean war, with the South Korean capital Seoul with artillery range of the heavily militarised border with the North.

Regional concern

In announcing the recommissioning of Yongbyon nuclear power station, the North Korean foreign ministry said it was responding to a US-led decision to suspend aid to Pyongyang as a punishment for a separate, alleged nuclear weapons programme.

North Korea: Facts and figures

The US and its regional allies - South Korea and Japan - are worried that the plant could also be used as part of a wider nuclear weapons programme, which North Korea has regularly stated the "right" to possess.

"The announcement flies in the face of international consensus that the North Korean regime must fulfil all its commitments, in particular dismantle its nuclear weapons program," Mr Fleischer said.

He said the United States sought a peaceful resolution to the North Korean dispute, but it would not "bargain or offer inducements for North Korea to live up to the agreements North Korea has signed".

South Korea and Japan have expressed concern over their neighbour's announcement.

South Korea's National Security Council convened in emergency session to express strong regret and grave concern" over the development which "could raise tension on the Korean peninsula".

Japan described the threat as "deplorable" - but Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi urged caution, noting the "consistent stance ... to seek a peaceful resolution".

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	Yongbyon: Site includes a 5-MWe experimental nuclear power reactor and a partially completed plutonium extraction facility. The US believes the reactor and extraction plant have been used to produce plutonium - possibly enough for 1 or 2 nuclear weapons. Activities at site frozen under 1994 Agreed Framework Taechon: 200-MWe nuclear power reactor - construction halted under Agreed Framework Pyongyang: Laboratory-scale "hot cells" that may have been used to extract small quantities of plutonium Kumho: Site of two 1,000-MWe light water reactors under construction by Kedo

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