(Adds quotes, background, details)

WASHINGTON, Sept 3 (Reuters) - North Korea has begun moving around some previously stored equipment at its Yongbyon nuclear plant but does not appear to be trying to rebuild the facility, the U.S. State Department said on Wednesday.

U.S. and Japanese media reported earlier that North Korea had begun reassembling Yongbyon, which can produce plutonium for nuclear weapons, but State Department spokesman Sean McCormack was not able to confirm the reports.

"To my knowledge, based on what we know from the folks on the ground, you don't have an effort to reconstruct, re-integrate this equipment back into the Yongbyon facility," the spokesman told reporters.

He said Assistant Secretary of State Chris Hill, the lead U.S. negotiator with North Korea, would leave for Beijing on Thursday to consult Chinese officials.

China is the host of the so-called six-party negotiations that have sought to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear programs in exchange for economic and diplomatic benefits.

Those negotiations, which include the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States, have stalled following North Korea's announcement last month that it planned to stop disabling its nuclear facilities and would consider restoring the Yongbyon reactor, which can make plutonium for atom bombs. (Reporting by Arshad Mohammed; editing by David Alexander)

AlertNet news is provided by