A working group of US experts left Pyongyang on Thursday after
talks on disabling the nuclear facilities of North Korea.
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"The trip is useful," Kim Sung, head of the eight-member team,
told reporters before leaving the airport in Pyongyang. He is also
head of the Korean Affairs office of the US State Department.
He refused to release any further details about the trip.
The team arrived here last Thursday as the first step of US
efforts to lead the disablement of North Korean nuclear facilities
as agreed in a joint document released on October 3 by the second
session of the sixth round of the six-party talks which was held in
Beijing, China.
A second US team will arrive here later this week for further
negotiations on disabling atomic facilities, according to the US
State Department.
North Korea agreed to disable all its existing nuclear
facilities and to provide a complete and correct declaration on all
its nuclear programs by the end of this year, according to the
October 3 joint document.
The disablement of the 5 megawatt experimental reactor at
Yongbyon, the reprocessing plant (radiochemical laboratory) at
Yongbyon and the nuclear fuel rod fabrication facility at Yongbyon
will be completed by December 31, 2007, according to the
document.
As agreed, the US would lead the disablement activities and
provide the initial funding.
The six parties -- China, North and South Korea, the US, Russia
and Japan -- signed a landmark agreement on February 13 which
required North Korea's complete and correct declaration of all its
nuclear programs. The agreement also asked the other five parties
to provide a total of 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil or
equivalent aid to North Korea in return.
(Xinhua News Agency October 18, 2007)
