North Korea Asks U.S. Nuclear Experts to Leave

Four U.S. inspectors working at a North Korean nuclear plant are leaving Thursday at the request of the reclusive country.

State Department spokesman Robert Wood told reporters Wednesday that the U.S. officials who had been helping the North disable the Yongbyon nuclear plant are now making preparations to leave.

The expulsions come amid North Korean fury at international condemnation of its rocket launch earlier this month.

Wood says the expulsion is "a step backward" and further isolates the country from the outside world. He says "the North is going to have to deal with the consequences of such decisions."

North Korea claims the launch was merely to fire a satellite into orbit but world powers suspect this was a thinly disguised test launch of a multistage intercontinental ballistic missile. A week later, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution condemning the launch.

A diplomat close to the International Atomic Energy Agency says North Korea has also expelled IAEA inspectors from Yongbyon. The diplomat spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to release the information.

FOX News' Nina Donaghy and The Associated Press contributed to this report.