The chaos in Puan County in North Cholla Province over the government plan to build a nuclear waste reprocessing facility is finally showing signs of a peaceful resolution as the police decided to back down from its previous hard-line stance and withdraw some of its riot forces from the area. For their part, residents showed restraint by staging peaceful rallies over the weekend.

The government also agreed to accept the residents' proposal to form a working level committee on holding a vote on the much-disputed facility.

The peaceful state may be only temporary, though, as a large number of residents remain suspicious of the government's intentions.

Puan residents refrained from violence during their candlelight vigil Saturday, one day after the Chonbuk (North Cholla) Provincial Police Agency head Kim Byong-jun promised to pull back his forces from the area if the residents promised to protest peacefully.

``If the residents in Puan refrain from any type of violent rallies and only carry out peaceful demonstrations, we will gradually pull out our forces,'' Kim said during a news conference Friday.

Police are expected to withdraw about 4,000 riot police from the area on Monday.

Some 10,000 residents from Puan gathered in front of the branch office of the National Federation of Fishing Cooperatives Saturday, but there were no violent outbursts as police stayed outside the city limits.

It is not clear how long such a state of tranquility will last, however, as officials at the Puan Residents' Committee Against the Nuclear Waste Facility remain indifferent to the government's partial submission to their demands.

``Nothing has changed and nothing will change until the government states unequivocally that it will repeal its decision to build a nuclear waste facility in Puan,'' Ko Young-cho, spokesman of the residents' committee, told The Korea Times.

The government had agreed to establish a joint consultation body between related government ministries including Chong Wa Dae and the residents to discuss ways to hold a resident opinion poll on the plan to construct the nuclear waste reprocessing facility on Wido, an islet off the county.

``If the cause of the problem is not fixed, the problem will continue to rise whether they pull back their police force from the area or form a joint council. Without their decision to completely cancel the construction project, the joint council will only waste time while providing no solutions,'' Ko said.

Another residents' committee official voiced his skepticism of the government's actions and plans.

``It really doesn't matter how many police officers are there. It only matters to them because the more police force they have the more sympathy we will get,'' Kim Hyo-jung said.