IAEA chief in Seoul next week as North deal moves

SEOUL, July 5 (Reuters) The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog will be in Seoul next week, a ministry said today, for a trip that comes as momentum is building for a shutdown of North Korea's nuclear reactor to be overseen by his agency.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, which sent officials last week to North Korea, said in a report this week that Pyongyang has agreed to measures to verify a shutdown of its nuclear weapons programme.

IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei will be in South Korea for a nuclear conference on July 12, the Science and Technology Ministry said in a news release.

North Korea agreed in a six-way deal in February to start shutting its antiquated Yongbyon reactor -- its source of weapons-grade plutonium -- in exchange for 50,000 tonnes of heavy oil provided by the South.

South Korea has said it would start shipping 6,500 tonnes of the oil by the end of next week, citing North Korean progress in implementing the nuclear deal.

The U.N. watchdog said the six countries in the talks -- the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States -- must settle on a shutdown target date before it sends inspectors.

The six could meet next week, Russia's top negotiator Alexander Losyukov told the Itar-Tass news agency yesterday.

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