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The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog said Monday that getting U.N. nuclear monitors back in North Korea would be a "complex process" that requires lots of efforts to build confidence between his agency and the communist country.

"I should caution that is a very complex process," International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei told reporters upon arrival in Beijing Monday en route to North Korea.

ElBaradei was invited to visit North Korea for two days starting on Tuesday to discuss follow-up measures on a Feb. 13 agreement reached in Beijing in which Pyongyang agreed to take initial steps to shut down and disable its key nuclear facilities in exchange for aid and other incentives.

The milestone deal calls for North Korea to re-allow in IAEA inspectors. Shortly after the latest nuclear crisis erupted in late 2002, the North kicked out IAEA monitors and quit the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.

Under the Feb. 13 six-party agreement, North Korea must shut down and seal its main 5 megawatt nuclear reactor at Yongbyon within 60 days in exchange for 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil.

If the North moves on to disable its nuclear facilities, it will be given an additional 950,000 tons of heavy fuel oil, or equivalent aid plus incentives to improve ties with the United States and Japan.

ElBaradei said that his agency's involvement in North Korea will be an incremental process that requires " a lot of confidence that needs to be built."

"I hope we will be able to agree on modalities to normalize the relationship with the IAEA and hopefully for the DPRK to come back as a full member of the agency," ElBaradei said, using the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

During the trip, ElBaradei is expected to discuss when and where IAEA inspectors would be allowed to resume their monitoring in the North, as well as what should be included in the North's report to the IAEA.

The ongoing dispute over North Korea's nuclear ambition erupted in 2002 when Washington accused Pyongyang of running a secret nuclear weapons program based on highly enriched uranium, but the North still denies having such a program.

A new round of the six-nation nuclear negotiations is set to open in the Chinese capital on Monday. Involved in the five-year-long negotiations are the two Koreas, the U.S., host China, Japan and Russia.
Beijing, March 12 (Yonhap News)