N Korea invites foreign experts for survey of nuke facilities

PTI / Sep 8, 2007, 10:38 IST

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North Korea has invited experts from US, Russia and China to survey its nuclear facilities in the country next week.

N Korea invites foreign experts for survey of nuke facilities

MELBOURNE: In a major breakthrough, North Korea has invited experts from US, Russia and China to survey its nuclear facilities in the country next week.
The announcement was made by Christopher Hill, US envoy to the six-party talks on North Korean nuclear stand-off, in Sydney on Friday.
Three nuclear specialists would be in North Korea from September 11 to 15 to "conduct a survey of nuclear facilities to be disabled", Hill said, The Australian said on Saturday.
The experts would look at the scope and technical feasibility of denuclearising the sites, the report quoted Hill as saying.

Hill, the US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific affairs, further said the experts were going to North Korea at the invitation of the Government of leader Kim Jong-II.
"I think it's a sign this current phase of disabling is an ambitious phase and a sign of seriousness of purpose", he said.
"Our plan is get this done by December 31. We thought the sooner, the better."
The experts would report back to the next meeting of the six-party talks on the issue. Under a deal reached in six-party talks, North Korea had agreed to make a full declaration of all its nuclear programmes and to disable them in return for aid, and security and diplomatic guarantees, notably normalisation of ties with the US.
US President George W Bush had also raised the issue of the six-party talks with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao, and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, in his separate meetings with them here.

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