N Korea vows to axe reactor quickly

N Korea vows to axe reactor quickly
By Anna Fifield in Seoul
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
Published: June 22 2007 06:02 | Last updated: June 22 2007 21:56


North Korea has pledged to shut down its main nuclear reactor promptly and carry out its obligations under the February 13 deal, Christopher Hill, US chief negotiator, said on Friday after a visit to Pyongyang.

The International Atomic Energy Agency later announced that senior UN inspectors will arrive in North Korea on Tuesday to work out details in verifying the shutdown of Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme.

Mr Hill, who is also assistant secretary of state, was optimistic that the six-party process aimed at convincing North Korea to give up the project was moving again after the resolution of the Banco Delta Asia debacle.

But he realised how difficult the process would be. “I came away from these two days of meetings buoyed by the sense we are going to be able to meet our objectives. But I am burdened by the realisation that we are going to have to spend a great deal of time and effort in achieving them,” he told reporters in Seoul.

“[North Korea] indicated that they are prepared to promptly shut down the Yongbyon facility,” Mr Hill said. But they had to “work out details”.

Mr Hill is the highest-level official to visit North Korea since 2002, when the current crisis began. The visit was an attempt to kickstart a process that had been bogged down over the return of $25m in North Korean funds from Banco Delta Asia in Macao to the Foreign Trade Bank in Pyongyang, via Russia.

Under the February agreement, North Korea must shut down the Yongbyon reactor and discuss all its nuclear programmes. Mr Hill said he reminded North Korea of its responsibility to provide a list of all nuclear programmes, “and when I say all, I mean all”.