| |
BEIJING - The leader of the UN inspection team tasked with overseeing the closure of North Korea's atomic reactor arrived in Beijing on Monday, saying the facility should be "shut down and sealed".
Olli Heinonen, the UN watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency's deputy director general for safeguards, landed at Beijing en route for Pyongyang, the North Korean capital where he is expected Tuesday.
"We have to make sure that the reactor should be shut down at Yongbyon. The facility should be shut down and sealed. So this is the next step on this long trip," Heinonen told reporters at the airport.
Asked if the team expected to go to Yongbyon, he said, "Let's see when we get there, how the arrangements are. We are looking forward (to the visit) and we are travelling tomorrow."
It will be the first time UN inspectors will have returned to the reclusive Stalinist regime since being kicked out almost five years ago.
The Vienna-based IAEA said last week that the North had invited inspectors back in to "discuss the modalities for verification and monitoring by the IAEA of the shutdown of the Yongbyon nuclear facility."
The Yongbyon reactor is at the core of the North's nuclear programme.
The mission is in line with a February deal struck by negotiators from six nations, under which Pyongyang promised to shut down the site in exchange for badly needed energy aid and diplomatic concessions.
It also follows a landmark visit to Pyongyang on Thursday by chief US envoy Christopher Hill, the most senior US official to visit in nearly five years. - AFP/ir
|
