N Korean nuke site 'shut down'
15/07/2007 16:20  - (SA)  

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Washington - US national security adviser Stephen Hadley said on Sunday North Korea appeared to have shut down its Yongbyon atomic reactor in a breakthrough for efforts to disarm the Stalinist state.

"It appears that the facility is shut down and we are finally implementing the February 13 agreement of this year," Hadley said on Fox News, adding that UN inspectors would be able to verify Yongbyon's status in the coming days.

The closure of Yongbyon, which produces plutonium for nuclear weapons, is the first step taken by Pyongyang toward ending its atomic programme since 2002, and the first phase of a six-nation disarmament deal reached in February.

"It means they will no longer be able to produce the plutonium for those nuclear weapons made out of plutonium," he said.

Hadley said the aim was "ultimately dismantling that programme, getting a full accounting of what they've been doing with any covert enrichment programme and finally getting them to turn over any nuclear materials from which nuclear weapons have or could be made".

The US State Department said on Saturday it had been informed of the shutdown.

Speaking in Seoul, US envoy Christopher Hill said he would meet on Tuesday with his North Korean counterpart, Kim Kye-Gwan, a day before six-party talks resume on Pyongyang's nuclear programmes.

"That was a good first step," Hill said of the Yongbyon closure, calling for a faster pace in negotiations.

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