UN inspectors to leave for N Korea Thursday -IAEA

VIENNA, July 12 (Reuters) International Atomic Energy Agency monitors will leave Vienna today for North Korea to verify a pledge by Pyongyang to shut down its atomic bomb programme, the UN nuclear watchdog agency said today.

''The team will implement arrangements agreed between the IAEA and (North Korea) ... to undertake verification and monitoring of the shutdown and sealing of (North Korea's) Yongbyong nuclear facilities,'' the IAEA said in a statement.

IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei had already said on Wednesday that he hoped the IAEA team would arrive on Saturday.

Energy-starved North Korea seems poised to shut its antiquated Yongbyon reactor as a part of a six-way disarmament deal reached in February in exchange for fuel aid and security benefits. The deal also includes a process to remove trade sanctions and Pyongyang from a US list of state sponsors of terrorism.

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