The demolition of the cooling tower at the Yongbyon nuclear complex of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Friday, June 27, 2008.

(Xinhua2008-06-27 18:22:51)--The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) destroyed the cooling tower at its Yongbyon nuclear complex Friday afternoon.

The 30-meter-tall tower, with the diameters of its bottom and top 22 and 13 meters respectively, was blown up at 5:05 p.m. local time (0805 GMT), a Xinhua correspondent who had been on the scene said.

The Xinhua correspondent, along with some other journalists, standing some 1,500 meters from the tower, first saw smoke rise from the exploded tower, and then heard a loud explosion.

The tower, a key structure of the Yongbyon nuclear facility, was reduced to a pile of rubble in just one second, with black smoke rising into the sky.

Earlier, South Korea's MBC TV said the facility was destroyed shortly after 4 p.m. local time (0700 GMT).