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VIENNA : UN nuclear inspectors leave for North Korea on Thursday to monitor Pyongyang's first steps in shutting down its nuclear weapons programme, the International Atomic Energy Agency said.
The mission starts Saturday in North Korea, after the 10 inspectors stop off in Beijing, said an IAEA statement.
The mission will re-establish international monitoring nearly five years after Pyongyang threw out IAEA inspectors in December 2002 when the communist state moved to re-start its Yongbyon plutonium-producing nuclear reactor and resume weapons work.
North Korea conducted its first nuclear test in October last year. It is believed to have several plutonium bombs.
North Korea agreed to shut down Yongbyon in an accord with five international powers reached February 13. The accord, which secures fuel supplies for North Korea, is a first step towards ending its nuclear weapons efforts.
The IAEA inspectors "will implement arrangements agreed between the IAEA and the DPRK and approved by the Agency's Board of Governors to undertake verification and monitoring of the shutdown and sealing of DPRK's Yongbyong nuclear facilities," the IAEA statement said.
The IAEA team will take about 100 cases of equipment weighing about one tonne, an IAEA spokesman said.
After the IAEA's 35 nation board of governors approved the mission on Monday, the spokesman said the inspectors would arrive in Beijing Friday morning and leave for Pyongyang on Saturday morning.
The inspectors could not leave until North Korea made a formal invitation which arrived Tuesday, a move that shows Pyongyang moving quickly at this point to meet its obligations, diplomats said.
The larger negotiating process is also proceeding. Six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear programme are to resume next week, China's foreign ministry said.
Meanwhile, a South Korean tanker left Thursday with a first shipment of fuel oil for North Korea.
IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei told reporters in Seoul that he expected the shutdown to start early next week and to go smoothly.
The UN atomic chief said it was "a good step in the right direction" but warned that full denuclearisation is "going to be a long process. We should not delude ourselves. This has been a problem for over 15 years, the Korean nuclear issue, and it will take time to have a comprehensive solution."
Under the February 13 agreement, the energy-starved North will receive one million tons of fuel oil or equivalent aid, plus major diplomatic benefits and security guarantees, if it declares and dismantles all nuclear programmes.
"The key thing here is not simply getting this first stage agreement completed but then continuing on with disabling and ultimately dismantling of the North Korean nuclear program," US State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said last week in Washington.
- AFP /ls
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