WASHINGTON AND SEOUL — North Korea on Tuesday ordered international nuclear inspectors out of the country and said it would "never again" take part in denuclearization talks, dealing a harsh, early setback to the Obama administration's hopes of disarming the defiant regime.
In a strident reaction to a United Nations rebuke over its recent rocket launch, the government in Pyongyang took several provocative actions, including announcing that it would resume building nuclear weapons.
The White House said North Korea had taken "a serious step in the wrong direction," but it offered no hint as to how it plans to restart the long-stalled drive to abolish the communist nation's nuclear program.
The presence of international inspectors and ongoing multinational negotiations have provided U.S. officials a partial sense of security, even without significant steps toward an agreement.
North Korea periodically seeks to block the constant scrutiny of inspectors and diplomats, and it may have used those periods to press for technological advances.
For instance, North Korea suspended talks for most of 2006, saying it was protesting U.S. financial sanctions. During that time, it test-fired seven missiles and conducted an underground nuclear test.
Analysts said this week's developments could force U.S. officials to take steps they have long avoided, such as approaching North Korea for one-on-one talks to rekindle broader negotiations involving China, Russia, Japan, the United States and North and South Korea, participants in what are known as the six-party talks.
North Korea took the formal step Tuesday of giving official notice to the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency that it wanted U.N. inspectors to leave, and disclosed plans to restart its plutonium production facility.
"There is no need for six-party talks anymore," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Despite the ominous developments and the problems they pose for President Obama, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the administration was "quite pleased" with Monday's U.N. Security Council rebuke, which had been strenuously pushed by the administration.
Nonetheless, some officials acknowledged that the resumption of the six-party talks, a top goal of the administration, was likely to be put off indefinitely.
