Tokyo – North Korea could shut down its nuclear reactor within three weeks and return to disarmament talks, a U.S. envoy said Saturday. Russia, meanwhile, said disputed funds have reached a North Korean account at a Russian bank, clearing a key hurdle in negotiations.
The Yongbyon plutonium-producing reactor will be shut after the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog and North Korea agree on how to monitor the process, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said after visiting the reclusive country.
“We do expect this to be soon, probably within three weeks … though I don’t want to be pinned down on precisely the date,” Hill said after briefing his Japanese counterpart, Kenichiro Sasae, on the outcome of his two-day surprise trip to Pyongyang.
The next round of negotiations could begin in early July, though that depended on scheduling by the host, China, he added.
“I would expect it to happen soon after shutdown begins,” Hill said.
Hill’s visit – the first to North Korea by a high-ranking U.S. official since October 2002 – came amid growing optimism that Pyongyang may finally be ready to take concrete steps toward fulfilling a promise to dismantle its nuclear programs.
Last week, North Korea invited inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to discuss procedures for shutting down its reactor, five years after expelling them. The U.N. inspectors are due to arrive in the North Korean capital Tuesday.
In another sign of progress, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said a bank in far eastern Russia had received North Korean funds frozen at a Macau bank that had been blacklisted by the U.S. over allegations of money-laundering and other crimes.
Because of the dispute over the $25 million, North Korea missed an April deadline for shutting its reactor. The funds were freed this year but started to be transferred to the Russian bank just last week.
The North used the dispute as a reason to stay away from six-nation nuclear talks for more than a year, during which it conducted its first-ever nuclear test explosion in October.
“We hope that now the participants of the six-sided process will be able to switch to practical moves directed at realization of the (February) Beijing agreement,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
