WORLD / Asia-Pacific
North Korea to close reactor
(AP)
Updated: 2007-06-29 22:23
PYONGYANG, North Korea - The UN nuclear watchdog and North Korea have
reached an agreement on how the agency will monitor and verify shutdown
of the country's main nuclear reactor, a top official said Friday.
South Korean workers load packs of rice for North Korea into a Vietnamese
ship at Gunsan port in Gunsan, south of Seoul, South Korea, Friday, June
29, 2007. [AP]
A team from the International Atomic Energy Agency returned Friday to the
North Korean capital from a two-day trip to the Yongbyon nuclear complex,
broadcaster APTN reported. It was the first IAEA visit to the facility
since UN monitors were expelled from the country in 2002.
"We have concluded this understanding, what our monitoring and
verification activities are in principle," IAEA Deputy Director Olli
Heinonen said in footage shot by APTN. He did not provide specifics of
the agreement.
Heinonen said his team, which was scheduled to leave Pyongyang for
Beijing on Saturday, was preparing to report to the IAEA board of
governors within one week, but noted that the timing of the shutdown was
up to the six countries involved in North Korea nuclear talks.
"This is for the six parties to decide," he said in the APTN footage.
"You have to ask them the time scale. When they do (decide), we will be
ready."
An IAEA official in Vienna, who spoke on condition of anonymity because
he was not authorized to comment to media, said that a board meeting
would likely take place July 9, with the 35 member nations expected to
approve sending the first inspection team to the North as quickly as
possible.
North Korea pledged to close and seal Yongbyon in exchange for economic
aid and political concessions in an agreement with the U.S., China,
Japan, Russia and South Korea. The purpose of the IAEA trip was to
discuss how the agency's inspectors would monitor and verify a shutdown.
UN monitors expressed strong satisfaction with its rare visit to the
North Korean reactor, praising the regime for its cooperation in an
indication Pyongyang is serious about meeting its promise to close the
facility.
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