The North's foreign ministry spokesman told the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) that Pyongyang would ban the consortium, the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) from taking out equipment, facilities, material and technical documents from the communist country.

The multi-billion dollar energy project faces a halt after the consortium met in New York this week on suspending work. After a two-day meeting, the consortium said Tuesday it would announce a decision on the fate of the project no later than November 21.

The North Korean spokesman denounced the United States and the consortium for delaying work in building two light water nuclear reactors (LWR) and demanded compensation for the delays.

"The DPRK (North Korea) will hold them accountable for this to the last," the spokesman said in an interview with KCNA's English service monitored here.

"It will never allow them to take out all the equipment, facilities, materials and technical documents now in Kumho area for the LWR construction till this issue is settled."

He said the alleged suspension of the 4.6 billion dollar project was "nothing surprising", adding that Pyongyang had already foreseen such a development.

"What matters is why Washington is so getting on the nerves of the DPRK at a time when the resumption of the six-party talks is high on the agenda," he said in reference to talks on North Korea's nuclear ambitions involving South Korea, the United States, Russia, Japan and China.

The United States, Japan, South Korea and the European Union formed the international consortium to oversee the project to build two safe reactors for North Korea under a now defunct 1994 US-North Korean pact.

South Korean Foreign Minister Yoon Young-Kwan said Wednesday Seoul opposed US-led calls to scrap the project and wanted a one-year suspension instead.

WAR.WIRE