BEIJING, Oct 31 (AFP): International efforts to halt North Korea's nuclear drive are going well, US envoy Christopher Hill said Wednesday, a day before the nation is to start disabling its atomic facilities for the first time.
The reclusive communist state has pledged to start disablement November 1 and complete the process by the end of the year, in line with a deadline set under a landmark six-nation accord brokered in February.
If carried through, it would mark a significant step in efforts to end the North's nuclear programmes, a task that took on added urgency when Pyongyang conducted its first ever atomic weapons test last year.
A US inspection team is due to fly Thursday to North Korea to witness the start of the process, and Hill met Wednesday in Beijing with his North Korean counterpart Kim Kye-Gwan to ensure there were no last-minute problems.
"I think we are in pretty good shape on that," he said of the disablement plans before his talks with Kim.
"There are a couple of issues that have to be worked through but I think we have an agreement on what we're doing generally."
North Korea, one of the world's most impoverished and isolated nations, is believed to have spent decades secretly developing nuclear weapons programmes, and has never before taken steps to disable its facilities.
A 1994 accord with the United States, which eventually collapsed, saw North Korea only freeze its Yongbyon reactor, and it was later able to restart the facility.
Under the February accord, North Korea would receive one million tonnes of fuel oil or equivalent forms of aid for giving up its nuclear programmes.
US envoy positive ahead of DPRK N-disablement
FE Team | Published: November 01, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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