Oil aid heads to North Korea
Friday, July 13, 2007
SOUTH Korea sent oil to the North yesterday, part of a deal by which the communist state is to shut its nuclear reactor, and Beijing said big powers would meet next week for talks to push Pyongyang to scrap its atomic arms programme.
A ship carrying 6,200 tonnes of fuel oil was expected to dock in the energy-starved North on Saturday, the day a team from the U.N. nuclear watchdog is due to arrive to oversee closure of the reactor, source of Pyongyang's weapons-grade plutonium.
Speaking to reporters in Seoul, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it would take a month to set up all the monitoring equipment needed to make sure Pyongyang lives up to its pledge to mothball the Soviet-era reactor.
"That is not a complicated process because we would simply, at that stage, shut down the reactor and make sure that there's enough monitoring equipment to ensure that at all times we can verify and provide assurance about the shutdown of the facility," Mohamed ElBaradei said.
What is expected to be a 10-member IAEA team will gather over the next two days in Beijing and then fly into North Korea.
At six-way talks in February, North Korea agreed to shut the reactor at Yongbyon, about 100 km (60 miles) north of Pyongyang, and allow IAEA inspectors back into the country in exchange for the oil supplied by the South.
Last week, a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said the communist state might shut down the Yongbyon plant, which also contains a nuclear reprocessing facility, once the oil arrives.
The next round of six-way talks, grouping the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States, is due to open in Beijing on July 18, China's Foreign Ministry said. The scheduled two-day session comes as momentum has been building in an often sputtering denuclearisation process.
Last month, about $25 million in North Korean assets frozen in a Macau bank for nearly two years was returned to the secretive state.
Pyongyang had said it refused to start shutting down the reactor until it had the money.
If North Korea scraps its nuclear weapons programme, it can receive another 950,000 tonnes of oil, security guarantees and the possibility of establishing diplomatic ties with its long-time nemesis, the United States.
Analysts have said Pyongyang may never abandon its nuclear weapons.
With them, it can have a seat at the table with global powers and pressure them into making concessions. Without them, it is merely a poor country in a region of global economic powers.
Reuters
A ship carrying 6,200 tonnes of fuel oil was expected to dock in the energy-starved North on Saturday, the day a team from the U.N. nuclear watchdog is due to arrive to oversee closure of the reactor, source of Pyongyang's weapons-grade plutonium.
Speaking to reporters in Seoul, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it would take a month to set up all the monitoring equipment needed to make sure Pyongyang lives up to its pledge to mothball the Soviet-era reactor.
"That is not a complicated process because we would simply, at that stage, shut down the reactor and make sure that there's enough monitoring equipment to ensure that at all times we can verify and provide assurance about the shutdown of the facility," Mohamed ElBaradei said.
What is expected to be a 10-member IAEA team will gather over the next two days in Beijing and then fly into North Korea.
At six-way talks in February, North Korea agreed to shut the reactor at Yongbyon, about 100 km (60 miles) north of Pyongyang, and allow IAEA inspectors back into the country in exchange for the oil supplied by the South.
Last week, a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said the communist state might shut down the Yongbyon plant, which also contains a nuclear reprocessing facility, once the oil arrives.
The next round of six-way talks, grouping the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States, is due to open in Beijing on July 18, China's Foreign Ministry said. The scheduled two-day session comes as momentum has been building in an often sputtering denuclearisation process.
Last month, about $25 million in North Korean assets frozen in a Macau bank for nearly two years was returned to the secretive state.
Pyongyang had said it refused to start shutting down the reactor until it had the money.
If North Korea scraps its nuclear weapons programme, it can receive another 950,000 tonnes of oil, security guarantees and the possibility of establishing diplomatic ties with its long-time nemesis, the United States.
Analysts have said Pyongyang may never abandon its nuclear weapons.
With them, it can have a seat at the table with global powers and pressure them into making concessions. Without them, it is merely a poor country in a region of global economic powers.
Reuters
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