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Following a United Nations (UN) Security Council Chairman’s Statement critical of its recent rocket launch, North Korea has issued an order expelling U.S. nuclear experts and inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) participating in the disablement of the Yongbyon nuclear facility.

In a statement issued Tuesday (local time), the IAEA announced that North Korea had declared a complete halt to all cooperative efforts, informing the agency’s personnel participating in disablement that it would be removing seals and cameras from the Yongbyon nuclear facility. The IAEA personnel were also informed that they were to leave North Korea as soon as possible, the statement said. The Associated Press quoted a U.S. government official Tuesday, as saying that it appeared the nuclear disablement and verification teams would be leaving North Korea as early as this week.

Analysts are calling the expulsion of IAEA personnel the first measure taken by North Korea following its announcement that it would be abstaining from the six-party talks and reactivating its nuclear facilities in protest of Tuesday’s UN Security Council president’s statement. The disablement and verification teams for the Yongbyon facilities have been residing in North Korea since November 2007 in accordance with an agreement made at the six-party talks.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says North Korea’s expulsion order is being viewed as “an unnecessary response to a legitimate statement issued out of concern by the Security Council.” She has also expressed hope that “there will be an opportunity to discuss this not only with our partners and allies, but also eventually with the North Koreans.”

Meanwhile, the South Korean government put off its announcement of full participation in the US-led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) on weapons of mass destruction, originally scheduled for Wednesday. “Our discussions with the related nations have not yet been concluded, and the internal procedures are still underway,” said an official with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, adding that a statement is scheduled to be made by this weekend.

The government is known to currently be in the process of seeking cooperation, and is informing China and Russia of its plan to fully participate in PSI. Sources also indicate that the government made a determination that the situation could effect pending issues in inter-Korean relations at a time when both a UN Security Council president’s statement and a North Korean Foreign Ministry statement objecting to it have been issued.

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