UN nuclear watchdog head to visit North Korea

Vienna, Feb 24: The head of the UN nuclear watchdog will meet the North Korean government next month to discuss the shutdown of its nuclear programme and bring the secretive communist state back under UN supervision.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei said he had received an invitation from Pyongyang today, after a deal last week to shut down its Yongbyon nuclear site and allow U N inspectors into the country.

''The first (issue) of course is how to develop a plan to freeze the Yongbyon facilities, and more importantly to make sure that they come back as a fully-fledged member of the agency,'' ElBaradei told reporters in Vienna.

''I very much welcome this opportunity,'' said ElBaradei in a joint briefing with U N Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who is visiting Vienna.

A spokeswoman for the IAEA added that ElBaradei planned to go after an IAEA board meeting in March.

The apparent progress of the plan to dismantle Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions came just a day after ElBaradei said in a report to the U.N. Security Council that Iran was still defying U N demands to suspend its nuclear enrichment programme.

Ban said Iran should take a cue from North Korea and return to dialogue with the international community.

''I very much hope that the Iranian authorities learn from the case of the North Korean nuclear issue,'' Ban said. ''It should emphasise the better future of the nuclear issue through dialogue.'' The Islamic Republic says its nuclear programme, kept secret for 18 years, is only for fuel production. The West fears it secretly wants to make atomic bombs.

0 Million deal

North Korea agreed on February 13 to take steps towards nuclear disarmament in exchange for 300 million dollar in aid under a deal U S President George W Bush hailed as the best chance to get it to scrap its atomic weapons programme.

The landmark agreement, reached four months after Pyongyang stunned the world with its first nuclear test, requires the Stalinist state to shut down the reactor at the heart of its nuclear ambitions and allow international inspections.

The accord also calls for concessions by the United States towards economically impoverished North Korea which Bush once lumped together with Iran and Iraq as an ''axis of evil''.

The White House welcomed North Korea's invitation as a sign for concrete steps to implement the deal.

''It's a positive sign. It shows that we're beginning to execute the terms of the agreement. We'll be interested in hearing his report when he gets back, but certainly our view is positive on that,'' White House spokesman Tony Fratto said.

But U S Vice President Dick Cheney, speaking earlier on Friday in Sydney, questioned whether Pyongyang would follow through on its commitments under the deal.

''In light of North Korea's missile test last July, its nuclear test in October and its record of proliferation and human rights abuses, the regime in Pyongyang has much to prove, yet this agreement represents the first hopeful step towards a better future for the North Korean people,'' he said.

Analysts said the invitation to ElBaradei just over a week after the deal was sealed appeared to show President Kim Jong-Il's government was willing to implement the accord.

''We didn't expect the North Koreans to do it so quickly and so comprehensively, so it's a very good sign that they are taking this denuclearisation very seriously,'' said David Albright, head of the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington.

Reuters

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