UN nuclear monitors today said they were able to see all that they wanted on their visit to the plutonium-producing reactor that North Korea has pledged to shut down in return for aid.

UN inspectors were travelling to North Korea’s key nuclear reactor today to discuss a long-delayed shutdown of the facility, as the country came under increasing international criticism for launching missile tests this week.

North Korea vowed today to move forward with its pledge to shut down its nuclear reactor in exchange for aid.

A senior official from the UN nuclear watchdog is preparing today for a rare visit to North Korea for discussions on how the agency’s inspectors would monitor and verify the shutdown of the Yongbyon nuclear reactor.

North Korea’s plutonium-producing reactor could be shut down in three weeks’ time in a deal agreed with the US, a top nuclear envoy said today.

Diplomats in Vienna said they expected UN nuclear chief Mohamed ElBaradei to find that Iran failed to meet today’s deadline for complying with council requests to suspend uranium enrichment, setting the stage for a confrontation at the Security Council.

A DOCUMENT obtained by Iran on the nuclear black market serves no other purpose than to make an atomic warhead, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said yesterday.

Iran has signalled it may grant access to sites linked to possible work on nuclear weapons and other demands from the International Atomic Energy Agency to avoid being referred to the UN Security Council, diplomats said today.