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News Asia-Pacific
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N Korea reactor may close in weeks
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Chun Yung-Woo, right, and Christopher Hill expect
the shutdown to begin in weeks [AFP] |
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United Nations nuclear inspectors will visit North Korea next week to discuss sealing the country's nuclear reactor after almost four years of negotiations.
The announcement of the visit came as South Korean and US officials said on Monday that they expected Pyongyang to begin shutting down its atomic programme within weeks.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said the send would discuss procedures for verifying and monitoring the shutdown of the Yongbyon reactor.
It would be the first visit by inspectors since the nuclear watchdog's staff were expelled in December 2002.
Frozen funds
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On February 13, 2007, at six-nation talks in Beijing, North Korea agreed to:
Start shut down of main Yongbyon nuclera reactor facility within 60 days of deal
Allow UN nuclear inspectors entry for all monitoring and verification
Discuss list of all nuclear programmes and materials including plutonium extracted from fuel rods
Declare all nuclear programmes and disarmament of all existing nuclear facilities
Begin talks on normalising diplomatic ties with the US and Japan, and resume high-level talks with South Korea
In return US, Russia, China, Japan and South Korea promise initial shipment of 50,000 tonnes heavy fuel oil within initial phase
The five nations agreed to establish working groups for initial and full implementation of action plan
Additional aid up to the equivalent of 1m tonnes of heavy fuel oil to be delivered to North Korea upon compliance | Pyongyang announced on Saturday that it had invited the IAEA team after a dispute over millions of dollars of North Korean funds, which had been frozen in an account at Macau's Banco Delta Asia, was resolved.
"In the next two or three weeks, I hope, the IAEA monitoring and verification team will visit North Korea and begin to shut down its nuclear reactor," Chun Yung-Woo, the South's chief nuclear negotiator, said.
Christopher Hill, his US counterpart, said: "We are talking about weeks, not months."
"Clearly, we have made a turn over the weekend. We are away from this banking issue and back on the denuclearisation issue. Let's see how quickly we can get this done," he said.
Russia's Interfax news agency quoted a North Korean diplomat as saying that the reactor would be sealed in the second half of July.
"According to our specialists, halting the reactor technically requires about a month. Hence we expect to seal it, in accordance with agreements achieved during six-party talks, in the second half of July 2007," the unidentified diplomat was quoted as saying.
Yongbyon reactor
Yongbyon is thought to be the North's only operating reactor and the source of its plutonium - including that used in last October's nuclear test.
The reactor's closure will be the first step in the deal involving the two Koreas, the United States, Russia, China and Japan. In return, South Korea is to provide Pyongyang with 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil.
Under a second phase the North would disable all its nuclear programmes in return for 950,000 tons of oil or equivalent aid.
The North had adamantly refused to start implementing the disarmament agreement until it received the money, which was frozen due to US allegations of money laundering and counterfeiting.
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