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SEOUL : The United States expects North Korea to meet a Saturday deadline to fulfil its side of a landmark deal to rein in its nuclear programme, officials said on Wednesday, as news came from the reclusive state that its premier had been sacked.
"It is our expectation that the North Koreans will fulfill their commitments under the February 13th agreement," US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
"We'll see where we are on Saturday," McCormack said. "Of course if North Korea does not fulfil its obligations in a way that is acceptable to the other members of the six-party talks, then the other members ... will have to examine the process and see where we are."
"I understand that there's been no formal request from the North Korean government to extend the 60-day deadline," he added.
"The commitment is that they would shut down the enrichment-related activities, the reprocessor, the fuel fabrication, the reactor."
Earlier on Wednesday, a US delegation chief had said the North would take the first steps to shut down its nuclear reactor within a day after receiving millions of dollars which had been frozen in accounts overseas.
New Mexico state governor Bill Richardson, who led a team to Pyongyang this week, said he believed the communist state was committed to February's international deal to scrap its nuclear weapons programme.
"The North Korean government told us that with that issue resolved, (it) would move promptly, within a day after receiving the funds," Richardson told a press conference in the South Korean capital.
"And therefore, within that day (it would) invite the IAEA inspectorate to Pyongyang to draft the terms for shutting down the Yongbyon reactor."
North Korea expelled the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors in late 2002 after the latest crisis over its nuclear programme began. It tested its first nuclear weapon last October.
Richardson said officials had mentioned postponing the shutdown by up to a month after the original deadline of this Saturday, because of the delay caused by the banking issue.
"However, we let them know that this was not acceptable and the issue was dropped," he said, adding that the operation should take just a few days.
The pressure came as North Korean state media reported on Wednesday night that Pyongyang's parliament had sacked the country's premier, Pak Pong-Ju, and replaced him with transport minister Kim Yong-Il.
The Supreme People's Assembly session "relieved deputy Pak Pong-Ju of premiership and elected deputy Kim Yong-Il premier of the cabinet of the DPRK (North Korea)," the official Korean Central News Agency said.
The agency gave no explanation for the sacking of Pak, 67, who had held the post since September 2003 and was theoretically the head of government.
It was not clear what impact, if any, the reshuffle would have on the delicately poised nuclear talks. All power in the reclusive communist state is centred on leader Kim Jong-Il, son of the nation's founding father and the focus of a vast personality cult.
Under the six-nation deal, the North should disable its nuclear programme in exchange for one million tons of fuel oil or equivalent aid and diplomatic benefits.
As a first step, it was supposed to shut and seal Yongbyon and invite in IAEA inspectors by April 14.
But the North refused to move until it received 25 million dollars which was frozen in Macau's Banco Delta Asia (BDA) until Tuesday, when the United States said Macau authorities agreed to release the funds.
Richardson did not specify whether the North had expressed its satisfaction with the latest move to return the funds.
He said the next step would be the Macau bank notifying the North that the money was available for collection. "That should happen late this (wednesday) afternoon, or tomorrow morning."
"So the BDA issue is resolved. We need to move forward," he said.
The chief US nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill said earlier there was no reason for North Korea to delay further.
"The DPRK (North Korea) has access to their accounts now," he added.
"We think it is a really important time to get on with the ever urgent task of denuclearisation, in particular to get on with the implementation of this February agreement."
Richardson's delegation was tasked with securing the remains of US troops killed in the 1950-53 Korean War, but also discussed the nuclear dispute. - AFP/de
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