Seoul/Beijing - The US expects North Korea to shut down its controversial nuclear reactor within weeks, US special envoy Christopher Hill said Monday. Two days after North Korea had invited back inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Hill said the closure of the Yongbyon nuclear plant should now be under way.
Yet, he added, the IAEA still had to resolve "technical issues" to control the shut-down, which might be "a matter of weeks."
The reactor could be shut down within a month, Russian news agency Interfax reported, referring to a North Korean informer in Beijing. North Korea expected to seal off the reactor in the second half of July, the informer was quoted as saying.
With Sunday's invitation of the Vienna-based IAEA, North Korea made its first concrete steps towards the dismantling of its nuclear programme it had promised.
North Korean funds held in a Macau bank had been released earlier and were due to be transferred to Russia.
"We have taken an important turn and are back to the actual issue of nuclear disarmament," Hill said.
The North Korean funds, meanwhile, had not yet arrived at the Russian bank, Moscow said Monday.
The money was moved out of Macau's Banco Delta Asia last week, and Russian officials have said for days it could reach Dalkombank, an obscure eastern Russian bank where North Korea has an account, very soon.
But Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said Monday the money had still not reached Dalkombank, adding that the Kremlin was awaiting guarantees the bank would not come under US sanctions.
Following his visit in Beijing, Hill was expected later the same day to visit Seoul for further talks on future moves in the nuclear dispute with North Korea.
