UN chief nuclear inspector unable to meet North Korea nuke negotiator

JAPAN: The chief U.N. nuclear negotiator was in North Korea for talks on how it will close its main atomic reactor, but was unable to meet with the country’s top nuclear negotiator Wednesday because of scheduling problems, a news report said.

Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, had been slated to meet with North Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan, Japan’s Kyodo News agency reported, citing IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming.

But the meeting was changed to one with Kim Hyong Jun, another vice foreign minister, because Kim Kye Gwan - the North’s main negotiator on nuclear issues - was said to be busy preparing for coming meetings related to the six-party talks on North Korean denuclearization, Kyodo cited Fleming as saying.

ElBaradei’s visit marks the first time his agency has been allowed into the country since Pyongyang ejected inspectors more than four years ago.

Phone calls to Fleming’s mobile phone went unanswered at midday Wednesday.

ElBaradei’s visit is the latest sign the North is complying with a disarmament agreement for it to take its first disarmament steps since it became embroiled in an international standoff over its nuclear ambitions in late 2002.

At that time, the North expelled IAEA inspectors after U.S. officials accused Pyongyang of running a secret uranium enrichment program - a violation of a 1994 disarmament deal.

The North later restarted its main reactor at Yongbyon and is believed to have produced enough plutonium for up to a dozen nuclear bombs, including the one it detonated in an underground test on Oct. 9.

Under the agreement reached Feb. 13 in Beijing, North Korea has until April 14 to shut down and seal the Yongbyon nuclear reactor and a reprocessing facility in exchange for an initial aid shipment.

The IAEA is to monitor and verify the shutdown.

Tokyo, AP