INSTANT VIEW - North Korea says to halt nuclear disablement

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - North Korea said on Tuesday it has decided to suspend disabling its nuclear facilities and will consider restoring the Yongbyon nuclear reactor because the United States had violated a six-party disarmament deal.

Following are comments on the North Korean statement.

NIU JUN, PEKING UNIVERSITY IN BEIJING

"It's a negotiating tactic to accelerate the process of achieving concessions."

"It wasn't rashly announced. North Korea took into consideration the fact that (Chinese President) Hu Jintao was visiting South Korea. The announcement was made after Hu left."

LEE DONG-BOK, SENIOR ASSOCIATE CSIS THINK TANK IN SEOUL

"North Korea is trying to muddle through and delay as much as possible. At the same time, this is a last ditch effort trying to somehow influence U.S. presidential politics.

"If the Bush administration and others in the international community had committed to North Korea going through with the third phase, of completely abandoning its nuclear weapons programme, well that was a pipe dream. There was no way for the parties to graduate from the second phase.

"I think the timing of the Hu Jintao visit to South Korea was very depressing to the North Koreans. That is the way they usually express themselves.