A team of US atomic inspectors is due to begin work overseeing the disablement of North Korea's nuclear facilities on Monday, US envoy Christopher Hill said Saturday. The nine-member US team arrived in the North Korean capital Pyongyang on Friday and expects to go to the main Yongbyon atomic reactor on Sunday to supervise the disablement work.
"They are in Pyongyang and tomorrow will be going to Yongbyon, the site of the nuclear installation, and they will begin the process of disabling the DPRK (North Korean) plutonium production facilities in Yongbyon," said Hill. "This will be, I think, an important moment when it's done. They'll be going to Yongbyon tomorrow (Sunday) and by Monday they will begin their work," added Hill, an assistant secretary of state and chief US envoy to six-nation talks on denuclearising the North.
North Korea, which tested an atomic weapon in October 2006, has agreed to start disabling its plutonium-producing plants under a six-nation accord which also requires it to declare all nuclear programmes. Under the February accord the North will receive energy aid worth hundreds of millions of dollars for disablement.