US welcomes North's invitation of IAEA team

ULAN BATOR, June 17 (Reuters) Talks and fuel aid aimed at coaxing North Korea to foresake its nuclear weapons programme could move ahead in coming weeks, the US nuclear envoy said today, welcoming Pyongyang's invitation to UN inspectors.

The chief American negotiator in six-nation nuclear talks, Assistant Secretary of State Chris Hill, told reporters in the Mongolian capital that North Korea's invitation to the United Nations' atomic watchdog to send a delegation to Pyongyang opened the way to fresh momentum in the negotiations.

''It is a welcome step. It's got to be followed by a number of other steps. But it is certainly a step without which we would not be able to make progress,'' Hill said.

He said US diplomats in New York had spoken with North Korean officials and he expected more discussions between them today.

North Korea's state news agency, KCNA, said late yesterday the communist country had invited a working-level delegation of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to visit.

KCNA said Pyongyang's atomic energy department had written to the Vienna-based IAEA about holding discussions for verifying and monitoring ''the suspension of the operations of nuclear facilities''.

Hill said he did not know when the IAEA officials would reach North Korea. ''I would assume very quickly,'' he said.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry had no immediate official comment on the KCNA announcement, but a ministry official told Reuters that Seoul was pleased by the North Korean announcement.

''We welcome North Korea's move,'' said the official, who declined to be named. ''We'll watch the progress to take corresponding steps (on our side).'' FUEL OIL AID Hill said South Korea's foreign minister had told him Seoul was preparing to send fuel oil aid to the impoverished North as part of a nascent disarmament deal reached in February.

Hill said a tanker was being contracted to transport the oil. ''They will be putting out the order for the fuel tomorrow so I think we're talking about a couple of weeks.'' Pyongyang's action followed the release of North Korean funds blocked in Macau for almost two years. Pyongyang's insistence that the money be freed had stalled international efforts to end the North's nuclear programme.

South Korea's YTN news channel reported that the IAEA team could enter North Korea in the next two weeks. Their inspection could lead to another round of six-way talks to review progress and discuss the next steps in nuclear disarmament, YTN said.

The Beijing negotiations have brought together China, the two Koreas, the United States, Japan and Russia to seek a way of ending Pyongyang's nuclear weapons ambitions, which alarmed regional neighbours when it staged a test atomic explosion last October.

Hill said he would be in Beijing tomorrow for discussions with Chinese diplomats, and he hoped the six-party talks could reconvene in early July. ''But we'll have to see what the other six parties think,'' he added.

REUTERS SW KP1614