North Korean reactor to shut down within days
Pyongyang gets oil aid as promised
Ap, Pyongyang
UN inspectors arrived in North Korea yesterday to monitor the communist country's long-anticipated promise to scale back its nuclear weapons programme, while the top US nuclear envoy said he expected Pyongyang's reactor to be shut down in a matter of days. An initial shipment of oil aid arrived hours earlier Saturday, in return for Pyongyang's pledge to close down its main nuclear reactor. The move would be the North's first step in nearly five years toward the de-nuclearisation of the peninsula. The 10-member team from the International Atomic Energy Agency was heading directly to Yongbyon, about 100km northeast of the capital, to begin monitoring the shutdown. "We are going directly to the nuclear site at Yongbyon," IAEA team chief Adel Tolba told broadcaster APTN outside the Pyongyang airport. Footage showed dozens of cardboard boxes being loaded onto the back of two trucks. Tolba said the team would stay in North Korea as long as needed to complete its work. After years of tortuous negotiations and delays during which the North argued its nuclear programme was needed for self-defence the reclusive communist regime said earlier this month that once it received the oil shipment, it would consider halting its reactor. North Korea did not give any timetable for starting the shutdown but top US nuclear envoy Christopher Hill said it would happen over the next few days. "I think it's a matter of today, tomorrow, maybe Monday," Hill told reporters in the Japanese resort town of Hakone south of Tokyo. Hill also said he expected the North to submit a list of its nuclear facilities within months, as was agreed to in February's round of talks. "We expect the comprehensive list in a matter of several weeks, possibly several months," Hill said. The South Korean tanker No. 9 Han Chang, carrying 6,200 tons of heavy fuel oil, arrived Saturday at the North's northeastern port of Sonbong, and the oil was being unloaded, a Unification Ministry official said. The South Korean official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media. Saturday's delivery was part of 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil the North has been promised in exchange for shutting down the Yongbyon reactor. Pyongyang eventually will receive 1 million tons of oil for dismantling its nuclear programme. After the IAEA team installs monitoring equipment, personnel will remain at Yongbyon to ensure the reactor remains shut down, said a diplomat familiar with North Korea's file at the IAEA.
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