UN directs closure of Korean reactor

NORTH Korea yesterday confirmed it had shut down its Yongbyon atomic reactor under UN supervision, the first step in a process designed to rid the communist state of nuclear weapons.

The closure of the facility, which produces plutonium for nuclear weapons, is the first step taken by Pyongyang towards ending its atomic programme since 2002, and the first phase of a six-nation disarmament deal reached in February.

The US, South Korea and Russia — parties to the six-nation talks with the North along with China and Japan — welcomed the move, but Washington said more needed to be done to speed up the disarmament process.

“We shut down the nuclear facilities at Yongbyon and allowed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) personnel to monitor it on the (July) 14, when the first shipment out of 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil arrived,” a foreign ministry spokesman told the official Korean Central News Agency.

The agency’s dispatch was the first report of the closure from Pyongyang, which shocked the world last October with its first atomic bomb test.

It is the first time Yongbyon has been closed as a political act since a previous disarmament deal collapsed in late 2002, but enough plutonium for several more bombs is thought to have been extracted since then.

“We have fulfilled our promises in advance ... which shows our commitment to the implementation of the agreement,” the spokesman told the news group.

The North had earlier insisted on first receiving all 50,000 tons of fuel oil promised in compensation for the shutdown under the February accord.

The first shipment of 6,200 tons arrived early on Saturday from South Korea. A 10-strong team of inspectors from the IAEA landed the same day with of monitoring equipment.

They were due to start verifying the closure last night, said chief US negotiator Christopher Hill. On arrival in South Korea Mr Hill said he would meet with his North Korean counterpart Kim Kye-Gwan in Beijing tomorrow, the day before six-party talks are set to resume.

Mr Hill welcomed the shutdown, but said much work lay ahead. “That was a very important first step but there are still many more steps to go,” he added.

The shutdown was delayed for months by a now-resolved row over US financial sanctions.

South Korea’s foreign ministry described the news as “encouraging progress” while in Russia, a foreign ministry spokesman described the shutdown as “a positive factor”.

The North will receive another 950,000 tons of fuel oil or equivalent aid, plus major diplomatic benefits and security guarantees, if it goes on to declare all nuclear programmes and permanently disable all nuclear facilities.