|
Rice expects N Korea progress
28/06/2007 21:28 - (SA)
Washington - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Thursday she expected "rapid" progress in international efforts to end North Korea's nuclear weapons drive.
Speaking before talks with her South Korean counterpart Song Min-Soon, she said her confidence stemmed from Pyongyang's decision to implement what is called "initial action" under the six-party talks to disband its nuclear weapons arsenal.
As part of the action, North Korea has allowed for the first time in nearly five years the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to visit the Yongbyon atomic reactor, a key source for potential bomb-making material.
"We will obviously have a chance to talk about the six party talks, where we hope for now rapid progress given the beginning, we believe, of the North Koreans' efforts to meet their initial action obligations," Rice told reporters with Song by her side at her State Department office.
A team of UN inspectors travelled to the Yongbyon reactor on Thursday to assess the size of the task they will face in monitoring its shutdown under a February 13 nuclear disarmament deal clinched at the six-party talks among the United States, China, Russia, Japan and the two Koreas.
Under that deal, the communist country vowed to shut down the five-megawatt Yongbyon site under UN supervision in exchange for badly-needed energy and diplomatic concessions.
|
News
