NKorea, IAEA to discuss reactor shutdown
Wednesday, 27 June 2007
PYONGYANG, June 26 (AP): UN nuclear monitors arrived in North Korea Tuesday to discuss the communist nation's plans to fulfill its long-delayed pledge to shut down its main nuclear reactor.
International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Olli Heinonen told reporters at the airport in Pyongyang that his delegation would be "negotiating arrangements for verification of the shutdown and sealing" of the North's main reactor during the five-day trip.
Heinonen said North Korean officials gave his delegation a friendly reception at the airport and appeared ready for discussions.
"It seems to be a good start," he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
The North Korean government vowed Monday to move forward with a February agreement to shut down its plutonium-producing Yongbyon reactor in exchange for aid, after announcing that a dispute over frozen bank funds that had held up disarmament efforts was now finally over.
South Korea responded Tuesday by saying it will start sending promised food aid to North Korea on June 30.
The South agreed in April to give the impoverished North 400,000 tons of rice. But the delivery - originally set to begin in late May - was put on hold as Seoul used the food aid as leverage to spur the North to shutter Yongbyon.
Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said Saturday he believed the shutdown would happen within about three weeks. Hill is the top US nuclear negotiator with the communist regime.
Hubert Pirker, the head of a European Union parliamentary delegation that visited North Korea this week, also said Tuesday that officials in the North appeared poised to implement the international nuclear accord.
"They say to us in a very clear answer: 'We will do, we will follow the contract, we will realise it as soon as possible - maybe during the next month,'" Pirker quoted North Korean officials as saying in reference to the February disarmament accord.
Pirker spoke to reporters upon arrival at Incheon airport, near the South Korean capital of Seoul.
Heinonen said Monday in Beijing he was unsure whether he would be allowed to visit the actual Yongbyon site.
North Korea, which expelled UN inspectors in late 2002, announced last week that it invited a "working-level delegation" to discuss procedures for shutting down the plutonium-producing facility.
North Korea had pledged in February to shut down Yongbyon and IAEA Chief Mohamed ElBaradei traveled to North Korea in March in what was billed as a landmark visit.
International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Olli Heinonen told reporters at the airport in Pyongyang that his delegation would be "negotiating arrangements for verification of the shutdown and sealing" of the North's main reactor during the five-day trip.
Heinonen said North Korean officials gave his delegation a friendly reception at the airport and appeared ready for discussions.
"It seems to be a good start," he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
The North Korean government vowed Monday to move forward with a February agreement to shut down its plutonium-producing Yongbyon reactor in exchange for aid, after announcing that a dispute over frozen bank funds that had held up disarmament efforts was now finally over.
South Korea responded Tuesday by saying it will start sending promised food aid to North Korea on June 30.
The South agreed in April to give the impoverished North 400,000 tons of rice. But the delivery - originally set to begin in late May - was put on hold as Seoul used the food aid as leverage to spur the North to shutter Yongbyon.
Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said Saturday he believed the shutdown would happen within about three weeks. Hill is the top US nuclear negotiator with the communist regime.
Hubert Pirker, the head of a European Union parliamentary delegation that visited North Korea this week, also said Tuesday that officials in the North appeared poised to implement the international nuclear accord.
"They say to us in a very clear answer: 'We will do, we will follow the contract, we will realise it as soon as possible - maybe during the next month,'" Pirker quoted North Korean officials as saying in reference to the February disarmament accord.
Pirker spoke to reporters upon arrival at Incheon airport, near the South Korean capital of Seoul.
Heinonen said Monday in Beijing he was unsure whether he would be allowed to visit the actual Yongbyon site.
North Korea, which expelled UN inspectors in late 2002, announced last week that it invited a "working-level delegation" to discuss procedures for shutting down the plutonium-producing facility.
North Korea had pledged in February to shut down Yongbyon and IAEA Chief Mohamed ElBaradei traveled to North Korea in March in what was billed as a landmark visit.