DPRK to beat N-disablement deadline

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SEOUL, Oct 24 (AFP): North Korea is likely to disable its plutonium-producing nuclear reactor well before the year-end deadline set under a multinational deal, a senior South Korean official said Wednesday.
The hardline communist state "has a clear will for denuclearisation," Baek Jong-Chun, chief presidential secretary for foreign, security and unification policy, told a forum.
Baek said the North is likely substantially to disable its only known operating reactor, at Yongbyon, in mid-November.
Under a six-nation deal announced this month, it pledged to disable by December 31 the reactor and two other key nuclear facilities at the complex. These were shut down in July in the first phase of the disarmament process.
The North, which tested a nuclear device in October 2006, also agreed to provide by year-end a declaration of all its nuclear programmes and reaffirmed it would not transfer nuclear materials or technology.
Foreign Minister Song Min-Soon said separately the disabling would be completed soon since North Korea and the other countries involved-South Korea, China, the US, Japan and Russia-have virtually agreed on the steps to be taken.
"There is a consensus among countries concerned that when it comes to the disabling, the sooner the better. North Korea has also agreed to it," Song said.