(Adds U.S. and South Korean defense ministers, background) By Sue Pleming WASHINGTON, Oct 17 (Reuters) - North Korea has kept its promise and reversed steps to restart its nuclear reactor at Yongbyon after an agreement last weekend between Washington and Pyongyang, the State Department said on Friday. "The North Koreans have in their efforts reversed all their reversals in the reactor. All the seals are back on, the surveillance equipment is back, reinstalled. And the equipment that had been removed is back where it had been," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack. "In addition, they have moved more rods from the reactor. On the reactor, they have actually gone beyond where they were prior to their reversing the disablement steps," he told reporters, adding that 60 percent of the nuclear fuel rods had been taken out of the reactor. However, in the fuel reprocessing facility, the North Koreans had more to do. "They have not yet gotten to that baseline where they were," he said. "There is still work to be done, but progress on it." Last weekend's deal was a desperate attempt by the United States to save disablement talks that were collapsing as North Korea began to reverse earlier steps it had taken to disable its Soviet-era plant at Yongbyon. Asked whether the United States was satisfied the North was keeping its promises on disablement, McCormack said: "Thus far, yes." OFF BLACKLIST The United States took North Korea off its terrorism blacklist last weekend after the two countries agreed on a series of measures to verify Pyongyang's nuclear program, including taking samples out of the country. Inspectors will now be allowed access to all declared nuclear sites and "based on mutual consent" to sites not declared by the North. Those steps still have to be formally agreed on by the two Koreas, the United States, Russia, Japan and China -- the six nations handling North Korea's nuclear dossier. McCormack said China was expected soon to announce a meeting of the six nations to affirm in writing the verification steps agreed on by the United States and the North. On a visit to Washington, South Korean Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee and U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, welcomed the resumption of disabling work at Yongbyon and "urged North Korea to fully cooperate on the verification regime.""North Korea's continued development of its weapons of mass destruction program, along with its ballistic missiles and the threat of proliferation, pose a serious challenge to the U.S.-ROK Alliance and the peace and security of northeast Asia," the ministers said in a joint statement. North Korea tested a nuclear device in 2006 using plutonium and is suspected of pursuing a uranium enrichment program that would provide a second path to make fissile material for nuclear weapons. The latest measures agreed on include both the plutonium-based program and any uranium enrichment and proliferation activities. (Additional reporting by Paul Eckert; Editing by Chris Wilson)
A nurse looks at a sign regarding AIDS as she walks in the grounds of Beijing You An Hospital October 17, 2008. Women must be more involved in the fight against ...
