It would be "extremely alarming" if North Korea follows through on its announced plan to restart a closed nuclear reactor at Yongyon, the US said Tuesday.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said such a move would be "a clear violation of the DPRK's international obligations and the commitments it made" when it agreed to shutter the facility as part of an agreement on its nuclear programme, dpa reported.
She noted that there was a difference between rhetoric and action, saying, "Obviously there's a long way to go between a stated intention and actually being able to pull it off, with all that that would entail."
"Were they to be able to put themselves back into a position to use the facility, that would obviously be extremely alarming," she said. "But as I said, it's a long way from here to there."