But in the weeks after the explosion the special inspection, which officials said was more rigorous, turned up a number of violations.

The most difficult issue for the North is allowing special inspections to determine how much nuclear material it may have diverted in the past.

Officials of the agency say a special inspection has never been attempted before, even in Iraq, where the inspectors ran into extreme resistance.

It also said that the agency had "no right to use 'information' offered by a third country" to call for a special inspection.

The agency's demand for special inspections touched off the crisis last year.

The second are the special inspections, requiring a country to open up an area it has not declared as an atomic site.

"We've put the special inspection on the back burner for now," an Administration official said, "just to get the talks going again."

Shouldn't special inspections of the North's nuclear waste sites take place now rather than later?

In addition, the agency is completing special inspections of 11 manufacturers.

South Korea ended the special inspections two months later.