PYONGYANG, June 28 (AP): UN inspectors headed to North Korea's key nuclear reactor Thursday to discuss a long-delayed shutdown of the facility, as the country came under increasing international criticism for launching missile tests this week.
The visit is the first International Atomic Energy Agency trip to the Yongbyon facility since its monitors were expelled from the country in late 2002.
Olli Heinonen, the deputy director of IAEA, told APTN that his team would tour the facility and discuss specific arrangements for future verification of the reactor shutdown and monitoring. He emphasised that the visit was not a formal inspection.
"We go to see the facilities and continue our discussions in more details," Heinonen said in footage shot by APTN at his Pyongyang hotel before departure for the reactor.
Meanwhile, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe slammed North Korea's communist government over the short-range missile launches, calling them a provocation that defied the United Nations and could destabilize the region.
"We need to seek a harsh response from the international community," Abe said in Tokyo.
North Korea boosted the urgency in the international standoff over its nuclear programme in October when it conducted its first atomic test explosion. The UN Security Council condemned the move and passed a resolution saying North Korea must, among other things, abide by a missile-test moratorium.
"I do not think this will directly affect our security," Abe said of this week's missile testing. "But in any case it is a violation of the UN Security Council resolution."
US officials in Washington also criticised the launches, which happened either Tuesday or Wednesday, according to varying reports.
"We expect North Korea to refrain from conducting further provocative ballistic missile launches, activity that is destabilising to the security of northeast Asia," said Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the US National Security Council.
On Thursday, the International Atomic Energy Agency team traveled from the North Korean capital to the Yongbyon reactor, about 60 miles to the northeast. The 5-megawatt reactor is believed to be capable of churning out enough plutonium for one atomic bomb per year.
Heinonen, whose team arrived in Pyongyang Tuesday, declined to provide details of his discussions with North Korean officials so far.
Asked if the North might begin to shut down the reactor during his visit there, Heinonen told reporters that he and his team will see "what we have on the table" Friday evening.
Plans for a formal inspection of the facility would need approval by the Vienna-based IAEA board of governors, Heinonen said Wednesday.
UN inspectors head to key North Korea reactor
FE Team | Published: June 29, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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