Seoul (AsiaNews) – For the first time in over five years a delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has arrived in North Korea to discuss the closure of Yongbyon nuclear reactor.
At the same time the USA and South Korea have promised to create a Forum for peace – comprising Seoul, Washington and Pyongyang – to stabilise diplomatic relations with the North and guarantee the effective denuclearisation of the peninsula.
The delegation, made up of four people, is headed by the Olli Heinonen, IAEA vice director general and chief international inspector. Arriving yesterday in Beijing, these explained: “Now we are going to go to negotiate the details: how to verify and make sure the reactors will be shut down at Yongbyon”.
Lee Su-hoon – South Korea's security advisor – commented positively on the arrival of the UN inspectors, underlining that this was made possible by the transfer of 25 million dollars of North Korean funds frozen in a Macao bank. Lee added that “if the situation continues along this path than it is possible that US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice will make a visit to Pyongyang next September”.
According to Lee, this visit “opens the path to a diplomatic panel, which will seek to insure humanitarian aid to the North Korean population and at the same time avoid a similar crises to last years threat of war”.
The regime lead by Kim Jong-il made no comment regarding Rice’s possible visit, but said it “appreciated” international efforts regarding the transfer of its funds, “unjustly frozen for far too long”. In the meantime, however a report by the UK based human rights group, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, accuses the regime of over one million deaths in its forced labour camps.