Seoul: UN nuclear inspectors verified the shutdown of North Korea's reactor, confirming the most significant move to curb Pyongyang's atomic ambitions in years, but more remains to be done, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said yesterday.
North Korea said over the weekend it had shut its Soviet-era Yongbyon nuclear reactor, which provides the secretive state with material for arms-grade plutonium, around the time it received the first shipment of 6,200 tonnes of oil provided by Seoul as part of an aid-for-disarmament deal.
"The reactor has been shut down," IAEA director Mohammad Al Baradei told reporters in Bangkok.
The next step will be to verify North Korea has shut other facilities at Yongbyon, located about 100 kilometres north of Pyongyang - which include a plant to make plutonium.
"It's a very important step we are taking this week, but it's a long way to go," Al Baradei said.
He has said it will take IAEA personnel, who arrived in North Korea on Saturday, about a month to install seals and monitoring equipment to make sure Pyongyang keeps the reactor closed.
Good beginning
Christopher Hill, the chief US envoy to North Korean nuclear talks, said the reactor closure marked a good beginning.
"Its significance can best be measured when we see additional steps because we are not interested on some partial denuclearisation," Hill said.
He wants Pyongyang to now move to disable its nuclear facilities and provide an inventory of its nuclear arms programmes, including one to enrich uranium for weapons.
"I think you have to look at each stage as more difficult than the previous stage. It is a little like one of those video games - every level becomes more difficult than the previous level," Hill said.
