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LUXEMBOURG : The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will resume inspections in North Korea following Pyongyang's announcement that it will curb its nuclear activities, its chief Mohamed ElBaradei announced Tuesday
The head of the Vienna-based nuclear watchdog described the North Korean move as "a step on the right direction" after Pyongyang agreed to shut down key nuclear facilities within two months in exchange for badly needed fuel.
"The IAEA will go back to North Korea to ensure that all nuclear activities are for peaceful purposes," ElBaradei told a press conference in Luxembourg with the country's foreign minister Jean Asselborn.
"It is good news, it is the start of the process," the Nobel peace prize winner added.
North Korea expelled IAEA inspectors four years ago after being accused by Washington of seeking to develop a nuclear bomb. Pyongyang then withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
The IAEA's 35-nation board of governors must authorize the agency returning to North Korea and is expected to do so when it meets in Vienna in a regularly scheduled session starting March 5, diplomats in Vienna told AFP.
A Western diplomat close to the IAEA said the agency has "contingency plans" for an inspection mission to North Korea.
"There's been a lot of planning and preparation and equipment is assembled," the diplomat said.
Another diplomat said that once it gets a "formal request, with clarity of mission, a team could go at short notice."
IAEA officials were busy working Tuesday on preparations for a mission, at the agency's headquarters in Vienna, the first diplomat said.
The IAEA is still waiting to hear "what is the task it's going to do and has not yet received any notification," the diplomat said.
ElBaradei spoke to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Tuesday and expects "that the agency with the concurrence of the board of governors will provide monitoring and verification provided by the agreement," the diplomat said.
The IAEA monitors compliance with the safeguards clauses of the nuclear NPT, checking to see that nuclear material has not been diverted for military purposes.
North Korea's state media said the pact it signed Tuesday in Beijing requires only the "temporary suspension" of its nuclear facilities.
Other parties at six-nation talks offered North Korea the equivalent of one million tonnes of heavy fuel oil in connection with the "temporary suspension of the operation of its nuclear facilities," said the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). - AFP/ch
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