KEY POINTS:
SEOUL - North Korea plans to seal its nuclear reactor, the source of weapons-grade plutonium, in the second half of July, Russia's Interfax news agency quoted an unidentified North Korean diplomatic source as saying today.
Despite more than two months of delay in beginning the dismantling of the North's atom bomb programme, it would still be possible to complete the nuclear disarmament of the communist state by the end of the year, the chief US nuclear envoy said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog, said on Monday a senior delegation would visit the North next week to agree on details for a return of its inspectors to monitor Pyongyang's promised nuclear shutdown.
"To stop the reactor, it will take about a month according to our specialists," the North Korean source was quoted as saying by Interfax.
"So we are counting on sealing it in the second half of July, in accordance with the agreements reached at the six-party talks," the source said. That Beijing forum brings together the two Koreas, the United States, China, Russia and Japan.
In Washington, US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the reactor could be mothballed simply by "hitting the off switch".
"In our view, a period of weeks, not months, is probably about the right one" in closing Yongbyon, he told reporters.
The North Korean source said the IAEA delegation would be present at the first stage of stopping the reactor and again when the reactor is fully sealed "to convince them of that".
"The stopping of the reactor will mean the implementation by (North Korea) of its obligations on the start of the denuclearisation of the peninsula," the source told Interfax.
The source said Pyongyang felt it would be "appropriate" for six-party talks to resume after the reactor is sealed.
US officials said they looked to resume those talks to nail down steps to complete denuclearisation. This would require the North to provide a full inventory of capabilities, including its plutonium stockpile, and disable reprocessing facilities.
South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said a Yongbyon closure would give critical momentum to the six-party talks.
"It's a very big step in a way and they can boost the confidence (of countries in the talks) ...," he told reporters during a visit to Paris. "There will continue to be some snags, I think, hitches of course, but the point is that they (the talks) have a general vision and agenda and framework."
US Assistant Secretary of State Chris Hill, in Beijing for talks with South Korea's chief nuclear envoy, said he expected a complete disablement of the North's nuclear programme could be accomplished by the end of the year.
Pyongyang's move followed the release last week of millions of dollars in North Korean funds frozen in Macau at Washington's request for almost two years for suspected links to alleged dollar counterfeiting and other illicit activity by the North.
Pyongyang's insistence on release of the funds had stalled international efforts to begin implementing the February 13 accord.
North Korea, which conducted its first nuclear weapons test last October, stands to reap massive fuel aid and improved diplomatic standing if it scraps its atomic arms ambitions to defuse one of the region's most pressing security concerns.
South Korea has already contacted at least two refiners to supply the North with 50,000 tonnes of oil pledged to Pyongyang if it began shutting the Yongbyon plant, industry sources said.
- REUTERS
