Multinational delegation to visit N.K. to check nuclear disablement: sources

Posted on : 2007-11-24 09:57 KST Modified on : 2007-11-24 09:57 KST

A U.S. State Department official is expected to head to Asia early next week as leader of a multinational delegation that will monitor the ongoing disablement of North Korea's nuclear facilities, sources here said Friday.

Sung Kim, director of the Korean Affairs Office, will go to the region, a department official said, although the exact itinerary has yet to be announced.

Kim is expected to go to Pyongyang with representatives from South Korea, China and Russia, countries that will participate for the first time in the inspection of the ongoing disablement process in North Korea. These nations, plus the United States and Japan, are members of the six-party talks negotiating an eventual denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Through a series of agreements reached since September 2005, the parties agreed on phased action plans to disable and eventually dismantle North Korea's nuclear weapons and programs in return for political and economic incentives. Under the latest deal struck last month, Pyongyang committed itself to disable the programs and declare its nuclear stockpile by end of this year.

Sources here said that among the 11 steps to achieve disablement, nine will be completed this year. The remaining steps, including removal of spent fuel rods, will take place next year for technical reasons, they said.

A U.S.-led team of nuclear experts has been in Yongbyon, the site of North Korea's known reactor and auxiliary facilities, since Nov. 16 to monitor the disablement.

"We expect that the size of the disablement team will remain about the same through the end of the year," the department official said. The team has usually consisted of eight people until now.

Russian media reports said earlier the multinational delegation will visit North Korea Nov. 27-29.


WASHINGTON, Nov. 23 (Yonhap)