US senator ends visit to North Korea

An American Senator, Carl Levin, has ended a three-day visit to North Korea, aimed at checking the implementation of a nuclear agreement between North Korea and the United States.

Mr Levin -- who's now in Seoul to brief South Korean officials -- visited a nuclear reactor Yongbyonnorth of Pyongyang.

Under the 1994 US-North Korea agreement, the reactor's operation was discontinued.

Mr Levin is the most senior American official to visit North Korea since Kim Jong Il became the head of the country's ruling Workers' party last October.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service