N. Korea Preparing For Inspectors?

North Korea may be preparing to invite U.N. inspectors to discuss shutting down its main nuclear reactor, South Korea's spy agency said Thursday.

North Korea has constructed a small building near the Yongbyon reactor and repaired a road leading to it, the National Intelligence Service said in a report to the parliament's intelligence committee.

The building is believed to be a "convenience facility" for inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, according to the report released by the parliamentary committee.

Piles of unidentified objects were also seen near the nuclear waste storage facility in the complex and ground-leveling activity was also detected, the report said, without elaborating.

"There is a possibility that these movements are to prepare convenience facilities ahead of a visit by IAEA inspectors," the spy agency said in the report.

North Korea pledged to shut down its bomb-making nuclear reactor in exchange for economic aid and political concessions in a February deal with China, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the United States.

But Pyongyang missed an April 14 deadline for closing the reactor. Still, the regime has maintained that its commitment to the nuclear deal remained firm and that it would invite IAEA inspectors to discuss shuttering the reactor as soon as it receives funds frozen in a separate banking dispute.

Getting the money has been Pyongyang's main condition for disarmament. The North had boycotted the nuclear negotiations for more than a year over the issue, during which it conducted its first-ever nuclear weapons test in October.

The U.S. says the funds have been freed for withdrawal, but for unknown reasons the North has not yet recovered them.

Top White House adviser Victor Cha urged North Korean officials in New York this week to act on the nuclear disarmament pledge, warning them that Washington's patience was limited (read more).

Meanwhile, Myanmar and North Korea, two of Asia's most repressive regimes, signed an agreement Thursday to resume diplomatic ties during a visit to Myanmar by the North Korean vice foreign minister, an official said.

Myanmar severed diplomatic relations with North Korea in 1983, following a fatal bombing blamed on North Korean commandos during a visit to Yangon by former South Korean President Chun Doo-hwan.

The two countries have been quietly working to normalize relations for the past few years. The two governments routinely meet at regional meetings, and Myanmar has reportedly bought weapons from North Korea.

Myanmar's deputy foreign minister, Kyaw Thu, told reporters the agreement to restore ties was signed Thursday morning on the second day of the three-day visit by North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Yong Il, whose trip had been cloaked in secrecy.