By DPA
Vienna : The International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) board Monday began a meeting to formally approve sending personnel to North Korea to verify the shutdown of the country's nuclear weapons programme.
IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei welcomed North Korea's active cooperation and said that a "successfully negotiated settlement of the Korean nuclear issue … would be a significant accomplishment for international peace and security."
IAEA monitors will have full access to the nuclear facilities at Yongbyong, verifying the shutdown of the reactor used by North Korea for the production of plutonium for its nuclear weapons programme.
Personnel from the UN's nuclear watchdog may travel to North Korea as early as July 14. The arrangements are deemed "satisfactory" by diplomats in Vienna, who now hope North Korea will move expeditiously to fulfil its part of the denuclearisation deal concluded on February 13.
The agreement reached at the six-party talks between North and South Korea, China, the United States, Japan and Russia offered the impoverished and famine-stricken country wide-ranging economic and energy aid and a normalization of its ties with the US in return for the closure of its nuclear facilities.
Pyongyang said it would start the shutdown of its Yongbyong reactor only after it started receiving 50,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil from South Korea as agreed in the deal. South Korea announced it would start shipping the oil by July 12.
The members of the six-party agreement will carry the 3.5 million euros (US$ 4.8 million) extra-budgetary costs for the mission. The lion's share of the initial funding will be paid by the US. Japan has also agreed to participate after initial reservations.
After prolonged haggling, the IAEA's 35 board members also reached an agreement on increasing the agency's budget by 4.2 percent after failing to do so at its regular June meeting.
The positive developments over North Korea could also bring about a change of thought in Teheran over its own controversial nuclear programme, some diplomats hope. An IAEA team headed by chief inspector Olli Heinonen will travel to Teheran later this week to discuss how to solve outstanding issues, as announced by ElBaradei and Iranian chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani in June.
However, there are still fears that the proposed "work-plan" may be one of Iran's "delaying tactics" ahead of the upcoming decision on further UN sanctions against it, a Western diplomat said.
News reports about increased construction activity around the nuclear facility at Natanz in central Iran have given further cause for concern about Tehran's intentions.