By DPA
Seoul : A group of US government officials and nuclear experts crossed the border Tuesday into North Korea to inspect its main nuclear facility and discuss the next phase of the denuclearisation of the country.
The seven-member delegation – led by Sung Kim, director of the Office of Korean Affairs at the US State Department – travelled from South Korea, crossing the land border and heading for Pyongyang, where it is to meet two nuclear experts from China and Russia, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.
North Korea invited the experts for the inspections after it promised the United States last week to disclose all of its nuclear activities and dismantle its nuclear programme by the end of this year.
Kim said that during their visit, the three nations’ experts would survey the atomic facility at Yongbyon, about 90 km north of Pyongyang. North Korea shut down the complex in mid-July in return for oil deliveries in the first step of its promised denuclearisation.
The shutdown was part of an agreement made among North and South Korea, the United States, China, Russia and Japan in February. Pyongyang, which had drawn fears that it was seeking to develop nuclear weapons, agreed to give up its nuclear programme in return for economic and energy aid and security and diplomatic guarantees that are to include normalizing its relations with Washington and Tokyo.
The next round of six-nation talks is planned this month.