UN official to discuss nuclear reactor on North Korea visit

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.

Olli Heinonen, the International Atomic Energy Agency’s deputy director general for safeguards, arrived in Beijing, China today and is due to fly to Pyongyang tomorrow for a five-day visit, with three colleagues.

“Now we are going to go to negotiate the details: how to verify and make sure the reactors will be shut down at Yongbyon,” Heinonen told reporters upon arrival at Beijing’s International Airport.

He said he was unsure whether he would have a chance to actually visit the Yongbyon site.

North Korea, which expelled UN inspectors in late 2002, announced last week that it invited a “working-level delegation” to discuss procedures for shutting down the plutonium-producing facility.

North Korea had pledged in February to shut down the Yongbyon reactor, its main processing facility, and IAEA Chief Mohamed ElBaradei travelled to North Korea in March in what was billed as a landmark visit.

But Pyongyang refused to act on the promise until it received about US$25m (€18.6m) in funds that were frozen in a Macau bank amid a dispute with the US over alleged money-laundering.

The funds were freed earlier this year, but only last week started to be transferred to a North Korean account at a Russian bank. Russia said the disputed funds arrived on Saturday.

Heinonen said before departing Europe that his delegation’s trip was a “subsequent step forward” from ElBaradei’s visit.