The chief US envoy for the nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea said yesterday that the country's nuclear facilities could be shut down and inspected by the UN nuclear watchdog in the next few weeks.

 

"Even though we are behind the timeline set out in February, we believe we have some possibility of making up," US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said in Beijing after talking with Chinese diplomats.

 

"Today I have completed some useful discussions with my Chinese counterpart Wu Dawei and reviewed the six-party process," Hill said.

 

"I think we do have to pay attention to timelines," he said, urging all parties to keep up the momentum.

 

Russia's Interfax news agency, too, said yesterday that North Korea is planning to seal its main nuclear reactor and source of weapons-grade plutonium in the second half of July.

 

"To stop the reactor, it will take about a month according to our specialists," Interfax quoted an unidentified North Korean diplomatic source as saying.

 

"So we are counting on sealing it (the reactor) in the second half of July, in accordance with the agreements reached at the six-party talks," the diplomat said.

 

North Korea had said on Saturday that it had invited the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for talks to verify and monitor "the suspension of operations of the nuclear facilities."

 

Pyongyang's move came after the dispute over its US$25-million funds was resolved. The money was blocked in Banco Delta Asia, a Macao-based bank for a long time. Pyongyang's insistence on the release of the funds had stalled international efforts and delayed a February 13 agreement to make North Korea shut down its nuclear reactors.

 

The deadline set in the agreement expired in April, under which North Korea should have shut down its reactor and readmitted international nuclear inspectors in exchange for fuel or other aid.

 

"This weekend represents an important step away from the bank issue that has held us up for a long time," Hill said.

 

"Now we are very much getting prepared for the shutting down of nuclear facilities in Yongbyon, and we will continue to implement the February agreement."

 

Also yesterday, South Korea asked at least two refiners to supply 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil to North Korea, which it had agreed to once Pyongyang started the process of closing the Yongbyon nuclear plant, industry sources in Seoul said yesterday.

 

Hill said the first shipment of 50,000 tons of fuel oil could leave within a week or two.

 

The six-party talks in Beijing have brought together China, North and South Korea, the US, Japan and Russia to seek a way of resolving the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula.

 

(China Daily June 19, 2007)