The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) must redeploy its inspectors in North Korea to help with the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, Yukiya Amano, director general of the UN nuclear agency was quoted as saying by Kyodo news agency.

The death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has plunged the region into uncertainty over the stability of the unpredictable state that is trying to build a nuclear arsenal.

UN inspectors were expelled from North Korea in 2009 and their return would be seen as a sign that the North may be serious about disarmament efforts.

The IAEA has shown readiness to resume its verification activities in North Korea as soon as there is an agreement to this end by six-party talks aimed at compensating the North in return for giving up its nuclear weapons programme.

Amano was in Tokyo to meet with Goshi Hosono, the minister in charge of dealing with Japan's nuclear crisis and other ministers, according to Reuters.