SEOUL (AP): North Korea says it has agreed to let nuclear inspectors visit its main atomic complex and interview scientists _ but refuses to let them take samples as part of any verification checklist.

The Foreign Ministry statement released on Wednesday provides the first details from Pyongyang about last month's negotiations with a U.S. nuclear envoy.

Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill went to the North Korean capital in early October in a bid to rescue a disarmament-for-aid deal stalled over how to verify Pyongyang's claims about its nuclear program.

Washington had requested soil samples, but North Korea says sampling was never part of the verification deal.