VIENNA () -- North Korea has halted its nuclear program and stopped building two nuclear reactors in accordance with its landmark accord with the United States, the United Nations atomic safeguards agency reported.


The International Atomic Energy Agency said inspectors who arrived in North Korea last week had visited atomic sites in the communist state and confirmed all work had come to a halt.


"The IAEA team visited the nuclear facilities in Yongbyon and Taechon and confirmed that these facilities were not in operation and that construction work had stopped," IAEA said in a statement.


North Korea has agreed to freeze its nuclear program in return for Western help and cash to build light-water reactors which produce less of the plutonium that can be used to make nuclear arms.