hankyoreh

A group of U.S. nuclear experts will fly to Pyongyang Thursday to discuss detailed steps for the disablement of the North's nuclear facilities, delaying its trip by two days from its original schedule, a diplomatic source here said Monday.

The American experts group has adjusted its plan and will fly to the North Korean capital from Beijing Thursday via an Air Koryo flight, the source said on condition of anonymity.

The U.S. State Department earlier announced the experts group, led by Sung Kim, head of the Korean affairs office at the State Department, will visit nuclear facilities in North Korea's Yongbyon region on Tuesday.

Kim led a multinational team of nuclear experts, which also involves Chinese and Russians, to the North on Sept. 11-15 to survey North Korea's nuclear facilities in preparations for the second phase denuclearization. In the first phase, the North has shut down its main nuclear reactor in Yongbyon and other nuclear facilities.

Under a nuclear deal reached in the six-nation talks, involving the two Koreas, the U.S. China, Russia and Japan, North Korea is entitled to get 950,000 tons of heavy fuel oil or its equivalent in return for disabling it's nuclear facilities and providing a full list of its nuclear programs by year-end.


SEOUL, Oct. 8 (Yonhap)