U.S. experts to inspect N. Korean nuclear facilities - paper
11/09/2007 11:35 TOKYO, September 11 (RIA Novosti) - United States nuclear experts will begin Tuesday five days of inspections in North Korea and prepare recommendations for the country's denuclearization, Japan's Yomiuri newspaper reported.
The work relates to shutting down North Korea's main nuclear facilities, the paper said.
The experts will join two specialists from Russia and China to inspect the five-megawatt reactor at Yongbyon and fuel production and recycling facilities, the first visit by foreign experts since a delegation from the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, verified the shutdown of the country's only operational rector in July.
A U.S. administration source said Pyongyang's invitation was a serious move towards implementing the second stage of a deal that the North reached in February with the U.S., China, Japan, South Korea and Russia, which are involved in six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear issue. Under the agreement reached in Beijing, North Korea agreed to permanently disable its nuclear facilities and provide a full account of its nuclear weapon activities.
In exchange the North will receive 950,000 metric tons of fuel oil for its thermal power-generating plants, in addition to the 50,000 already delivered for the reactor's closure.
The February agreement was considered a breakthrough following more than three years of negotiations since Pyongyang withdrew from the Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2003 and conducted a nuclear bomb test last October.
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