WASHINGTON: The United States is shrugging off North Korea's threat to backtrack on an agreement to dismantle its nuclear program.
North Korea says it stopped disabling its nuclear complex this month because the U. S. failed to remove it from a list of states that sponsor terrorism.
State Department spokesman Robert Wood said Wednesday that the United States "can't get overly excited by a down in the situation right now because this process does go up and down."
North Korea's move threatens a six nation agreement to abandon nuclear weapons in return for energy aid and political concessions.
Removing North Korea from the terrorism list was a U. S. concession, but the United States says it will not go forward until the North agrees to a plan to verify its nuclear declaration.
