SKorea expects shutdown of NKorea reactor within days
Thursday, 12 July 2007
SEOUL, July 11 (AFP): South Korea's foreign minister said Wednesday he expects North Korea to shut down its nuclear reactor within days, as soon as UN monitors and a fuel oil aid shipment arrive in the communist state.
The North has said it is considering closing Yongbyon reactor, which produces the raw material for bomb-making plutonium, as soon as the first oil shipment arrives.
That 6,200-ton consignment is expected to reach the North around Saturday, Song Min-Soon said, about the same time as an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) delegation arrives in the Stalinist state.
"The arrival of the first shipment of heavy oil in the North, the visit by (an) IAEA delegation to the North and the shutdown and sealing (of the reactor) will take place about the same time," Song told reporters.
IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei, speaking on arrival in Seoul for a conference, also said he expects the inspectors to arrive Saturday.
Preparations for the closure, the first phase of a six-nation February nuclear disarmament pact, are gathering pace after months of stalemate.
The IAEA said Tuesday its inspectors will leave for North Korea in the next few days after receiving a formal invitation from Pyongyang to monitor the reactor shutdown.
The six-nation group will meet again next week, probably on Wednesday although no date has been formally announced. US chief negotiator Christopher Hill is to travel to Japan and South Korea before then to coordinate positions.
The forum links the two Koreas, the US, host China, Russia and Japan and is aimed at reining in Pyongyang's nuclear programme.
Song said next week's talks will cover the second stage of the February pact following the reactor shutdown.
"These include the listing of all nuclear programmes of the North, actions concerning the disablement of its nuclear facility, the provision of the 950,000 tons of fuel and normalisation of ties."
The inspectors will be returning for the first time since 2002, when a 1994 pact to shut down Yongbyon collapsed and the North unsealed the facility.
It conducted its first nuclear weapons test last October heightening international concern and fears for security in the region.
The IAEA said its "team will implement arrangements agreed between the IAEA and the DPRK (North Korea) and approved by the agency's Board of Governors to undertake verification and monitoring of the shutdown and sealing of DPRK's Yongbyon nuclear facilities."
IAEA chief ElBaradei has said a shutdown should take only a few days but surveillance cameras and other equipment would then have to be installed.
The North has said it is considering closing Yongbyon reactor, which produces the raw material for bomb-making plutonium, as soon as the first oil shipment arrives.
That 6,200-ton consignment is expected to reach the North around Saturday, Song Min-Soon said, about the same time as an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) delegation arrives in the Stalinist state.
"The arrival of the first shipment of heavy oil in the North, the visit by (an) IAEA delegation to the North and the shutdown and sealing (of the reactor) will take place about the same time," Song told reporters.
IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei, speaking on arrival in Seoul for a conference, also said he expects the inspectors to arrive Saturday.
Preparations for the closure, the first phase of a six-nation February nuclear disarmament pact, are gathering pace after months of stalemate.
The IAEA said Tuesday its inspectors will leave for North Korea in the next few days after receiving a formal invitation from Pyongyang to monitor the reactor shutdown.
The six-nation group will meet again next week, probably on Wednesday although no date has been formally announced. US chief negotiator Christopher Hill is to travel to Japan and South Korea before then to coordinate positions.
The forum links the two Koreas, the US, host China, Russia and Japan and is aimed at reining in Pyongyang's nuclear programme.
Song said next week's talks will cover the second stage of the February pact following the reactor shutdown.
"These include the listing of all nuclear programmes of the North, actions concerning the disablement of its nuclear facility, the provision of the 950,000 tons of fuel and normalisation of ties."
The inspectors will be returning for the first time since 2002, when a 1994 pact to shut down Yongbyon collapsed and the North unsealed the facility.
It conducted its first nuclear weapons test last October heightening international concern and fears for security in the region.
The IAEA said its "team will implement arrangements agreed between the IAEA and the DPRK (North Korea) and approved by the agency's Board of Governors to undertake verification and monitoring of the shutdown and sealing of DPRK's Yongbyon nuclear facilities."
IAEA chief ElBaradei has said a shutdown should take only a few days but surveillance cameras and other equipment would then have to be installed.