N Korea and IAEA nuclear cooperation satisfactory: Kamynin

Moscow, July 20 (UNI) Russia today expressed satisfaction at the level of cooperation between North Korea and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) over the nuclear problems.

''Verification work at North Korean nuclear sites proceeds smoothly and with good cooperation between the IAEA and Pyongyang,'' the official spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry Mikhail Kamynin said in a statement.

Mr Kamynin said the IAEA had confirmed that the experimental reactor in Yongbyon, in North Korea has been shut down, along with a radiochemical laboratory, a nuclear fuel plant and two nuclear power plants.

''The experts have performed shutdown procedures and taken other appropriate measures. In the coming weeks, we plan to complete the installation of monitoring equipment,'' he said.

Experts from the United Nation nuclear watchdog would install monitoring equipment at five North Korean nuclear facilities in the next few weeks as part of an international effort to close Pyongyang's nuclear programme.

The Yongbyon complex consists of an operational five-megawatt nuclear reactor, a plutonium-extraction plant, a nuclear fuel production facility and research labs.

The site also contains a 50-megawatt reactor construction suspended under a 1994 nuclear deal with the United States.

The six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear programme ended today in Beijing, without setting a deadline for the next step in preventing Pyongyang from developing nuclear weapons.

However, the participants, including Russia, China, Japan, the US, North and South Korea, reaffirmed their commitment to push forward the process.

They agreed to schedule meetings for working groups to conduct discussions on disabling North Korea's nuclear facilities by August end and hold the next round of six-party talks in early September, followed by a ministerial meeting.

UNI