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KUALA LUMPUR: North Korea has shut down all of its nuclear facilities after earlier closing its key Yongbyon reactor, the head of the UN atomic watchdog told reporters Wednesday.
"Yes, we have verified that all five nuclear facilities have been shut down," International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head Mohamed ElBaradei said.
His announcement came as a new round of six-nation talks was due to resume Wednesday on North Korea's denuclearisation drive.
Top US nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill said in Beijing on Tuesday, after meeting the communist state's chief envoy, that no major obstacles currently impeded the drive to disarm North Korea of its nuclear weapons programme.
Hill held a series of bilateral meetings with North Korea's Kim Kye-Gwan ahead of the six-party talks.
ElBaradei had confirmed on Monday during a visit to Bangkok that his inspectors had verified the shutting down of North Korea's main nuclear reactor and were "working to verify the shutdown of the other four facilities."
The reactor shutdown is the North's first step since 2002 towards ending its nuclear programme, which culminated in an atomic bomb test last October, and the first phase of a six-nation disarmament deal reached in February.
The United States, South Korea and Japan - parties to the six-nation talks with the North, China and Russia - had expressed caution over the shutdown, saying it did not mean Pyongyang would easily give up its nuclear weapons. - AFP/yy
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