By Xinhua
Pyongyang : A 10-member team of UN inspectors arrived In this North Korean capital Saturday to verify and monitor the shutdown and sealing of the Yongbyon nuclear facility.
On his arrival in Pyongyang, Adel Tolba, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) inspection team, refused to answer any questions from waiting reporters.
An official from North Korea’s general atomic energy administration told Xinhua at the airport that the inspection team would go straight to Yongbyon.
“They will probably stay in Yongbyon for two to three weeks,” the official added.
Tolba told reporters at the Beijing airport before boarding the flight to Pyongyang that the team would go to Yongbyon Saturday.
“We are en route to Yongbyon facilities, and we have our equipment with us. We will resume our work when we arrive,” he said.
On Tuesday, the Vienna-based UN nuclear watchdog said in a statement that the IAEA had received an official invitation from North Korea.
The inspection team will monitor and verify the shutdown of the Yongbyon nuclear facilities as agreed between the IAEA and the DPRK and approved by the agency’s board of governors, said the statement.
An IAEA delegation, headed by the agency’s Deputy Director General Olli Heinonen, visited Pyongyang in late June and reached a consensus with the DPRK on the procedure for the shutdown of the facilities.
At a special session Monday, the IAEA’s board of governors approved a report submitted by IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei on the mission in Yongbyon.
The ratification of the report provided the legal basis for the IAEA’s new mission.