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US: NKorea nuke tour 'useful'
13/09/2007 16:18 - (SA)
Seoul - A US diplomat expressed satisfaction on Thursday after a visit by a three-country team of experts to North Korea's main nuclear facilities to determine how to disable the complex so it cannot produce material for bombs.
Sung Kim, chief Korea expert for the US State Department, told reporters the group of American, Chinese and Russian officials had seen the main facilities at the home of North Korea's nuclear weapons program in Yongbyon, 100km north of the capital Pyongyang.
"I think it was useful," Kim said after returning on Thursday evening to Pyongyang, broadcaster APTN reported.
He declined further comment saying he had to report to superiors first. Other experts refused to comment.
The North's invitation of the delegation and its unreserved cooperation were the latest sign that the regime is serious about disarming under a February disarmament-for-aid deal with the US, China, Japan, South Korea and Russia.
The US has said North Korea agreed at talks earlier this month in Geneva to disable the facilities by year-end under a February agreement granting Pyongyang political and economic concessions for its disarmament.
'All eyes on North Korea'
In Seoul, US Ambassador Alexander Vershbow welcomed the experts' trip, saying Thursday it would "facilitate tangible progress" on disabling the Yongbyon facilities this year. He also urged Pyongyang to remain faithful to its denuclearisation commitments.
"We hope it means that the North Korean leadership is making the strategic decision to denuclearise and join the international community," Vershbow told a security forum in Seoul. "All eyes are on the North Korean leadership's next steps."
Buoyed by progress in the disarmament process, the envoy even suggested on Wednesday that US President George W Bush and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il could hold a summit if North Korea totally disarms.
After North Korea tested a nuclear bomb in October, the US softened its policy to facilitate progress on the North's disarmament.
'Strategic decision'
In July, North Korea shut down its sole operating reactor at Yongbyon, which produced plutonium for bombs.
However, Vershbow also asked the South to send a clear message to the North that it has to disarm and also give up its already-built nuclear weapons as Seoul prepares for its second-ever summit with the North next month.
"Now is the time for the United States, (South) Korea and other partners to speak with one voice so that the North Korean leadership understands in no uncertain terms that it must make the strategic decision to denuclearise," he said.
- AP
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