North Korea process incremental, complex -IAEA

BEIJING, Mar 12 (Reuters) The head of the UN nuclear watchdog today said that moving forward to inspect and close atomic facilities behind North Korea's nuclear weapons programme would be a complex process.

International Atomic Energy Agency director Mohamed ElBaradei landed in Beijing en route to North Korea, where he is to broker a return of nuclear inspectors as part of a Feb. 13 accord that aims to dismantle North Korea's nuclear weapons programme in exchange for energy aid and security guarantees.

''It is going to be a very incremental process,'' he told reporters on arrival in Beijing, adding that it would be ''complex'' and that ''lots of confidence needs to be built''.

''I hope we can agree with the DPRK to get our inspectors back in time to implement the agreement of the six-party talks,'' ElBaradei said, referring North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

''I hope we will be able to agree on modalities to normalise the relationship with the IAEA and hopefully for the DPRK to come back as a full member of the agency.'' A shutdown of North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear plant by mid-April is the centrepiece of the February. 13 accord reached in the six-party talks grouping the two Koreas, Japan, Russia, the United States and host China.

North Korea announced in 2005 it had nuclear arms and in 2006 it test-detonated its first nuclear device, drawing on itself UN financial and arms sanctions.

ElBaradei is seeking to bring North Korea back closer to the IAEA four years after it expelled international nuclear inspectors and quit the global nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

REUTERS RL PM0948