International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) nuclear inspectors ordered to leave North Korea departed the capital Pyongyang on Thursday, a U.N. spokesperson said Thursday. The U.N. “inspectors at the Yongbyon facility removed all IAEA seals and switched off all surveillance cameras. That happened after the DPRK informed inspectors on 14 April that it had decided to cease all cooperation with the IAEA,” spokesman Farhan Haq said. Four other experts from the United States who have been monitoring the nuclear plant in Yongbyon were also preparing to depart after North Korea ordered them out, the U.S. State Department said. Spokesman Robert Wood said their departure would be “a step backward.” The expulsions came four days after the U.N. Security Council unanimously condemned North Korea's April 5 rocket launch as a violation of previous resolutions barring the North from ballistic missile-related activity.
