North Korea News Blog

UN agency, North Korea reach agreement on how to monitor and verify reactor shutdown

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 16:01:48 +0000

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) - North Korea continues to make progress toward an eventual shutdown of its main plutonium producing reactor by reaching an agreement with the UN nuclear watchdog on monitoring and verification.

A team from the International Atomic Energy Agency is back in the North Korean capital from a 2-day trip to the nuclear complex. It was the first IAEA visit to the facility since UN monitors were expelled from the country in 2002.

IAEA Deputy Director Olli Heinonen says an agreement in principle has been reached on monitoring and verification of the shutdown.

IAEA, NKorea reach agreement on shutdown

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 16:01:48 +0000

PYONGYANG, North Korea—The U.N. nuclear watchdog and North Korea have reached an agreement on how the agency will monitor and verify shutdown of the country's main nuclear reactor, a top official said Friday.

A team from the International Atomic Energy Agency returned Friday to the North Korean capital from a two-day trip to the Yongbyon nuclear complex, broadcaster APTN reported.

It was the first IAEA visit to the facility since U.N. monitors were expelled from the country in 2002.

Film makers cross the line to secretive North Korea

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 16:01:48 +0000

BEIJING (Reuters) - Forty-five years ago, Private First Class Joe Dresnok got fed up with the U.S. Army and decided to try his luck on the other side of the demilitarized zone, in North Korea.

A documentary crew in Beijing followed him in decades later, driven by curiosity over what had become of Dresnok and three other American soldiers who had married, raised families and become movie stars in Pyongyang.

"Crossing the Line" is the third film by Britons Daniel Gordon and Nicholas Bonner of VeryMuchSo Productions. Their previous works portrayed the North Korean team that played in the World Cup in 1966, and followed two young gymnasts training for North Korea's Mass Games extravaganza.

U.N. inspectors, North Korea reach deal

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 16:01:48 +0000

PYONGYANG, North Korea --The U.N. nuclear watchdog and North Korea have reached an agreement on how the agency will monitor and verify shutdown of the country's main nuclear reactor, a top official said Friday.

A team from the International Atomic Energy Agency returned Friday to the North Korean capital from a two-day trip to the Yongbyon nuclear complex, broadcaster APTN reported.

It was the first IAEA visit to the facility since U.N. monitors were expelled from the country in 2002.

"Understanding" on North Korea reactor shutdown: report

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 16:01:48 +0000

The head of the U.N. delegation said he was "satisfied" with a tour of a North Korean reactor complex that the secretive state has promised to scrap under an aid-for-disarmament deal, Kyodo said.

The reactor at Yongbyon was still operating, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Nuclear Safeguards Director Olli Heinonen was also quoted as saying on his return to Pyongyang.

The visit to the Yongbyon reactor, about 100 km (60 miles) north of Pyongyang, is the first by IAEA officials since Pyongyang kicked out the Vienna-based agency's inspectors in December 2002.

U.N., North Korea agree on nuclear plant shutdown plan

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 16:01:48 +0000

PYONGYANG, North Korea The U.N. nuclear watchdog and North Korea have reached an agreement on how the agency will monitor and verify shutdown of the countrys main nuclear reactor, a top official said Friday.

A team from the International Atomic Energy Agency returned Friday to the North Korean capital from a two-day trip to the Yongbyon nuclear complex, broadcaster APTN reported.

UN agency rejects U.S. accounting on money to N. Korea

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 16:01:48 +0000

The deputy chief of the UN Development Program has shot back at U.S. accusations that it had squandered millions of dollars in North Korea, saying the amount far surpassed what the program had at its disposal and questioning the authenticity of documents the U.S. mission provided to back up its claims.

In a confidential letter delivered Thursday evening to Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador, the official, Ad Melkert, said the money amounts, vendor names and transaction dates supplied by the United States had been examined against his agency's records and "there is not a single match."

He said the volume of payments that the Americans said the program had made to North Korean government entities was "significantly higher" than the total that the office had for all purposes in the country.

U.N. Monitors Visit N.Korea Reactor Site

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 08:33:28 +0000

PYONGYANG, North Korea --U.N. nuclear monitors returned Friday from a trip to North Korea's plutonium-producing reactor, saying the facility has not been shut down yet but that they were satisfied with their visit there.

The team returned to Pyongyang from the Yongbyon reactor complex, about 60 miles northeast of the North Korean capital, Kyodo News agency reported from the city.

"We visited all the places which we were planning to," IAEA Deputy Director Olli Heinonen said in footage shot by APTN. He added: "The cooperation was excellent and now we continue the meetings ... in Pyongyang."

UN inspectors head to NKorean reactor site in first visit since they were expelled in 2002

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 08:33:28 +0000

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — U.N. inspectors headed to North Korea’s key nuclear reactor Thursday — their first visit since they were expelled five years ago — to discuss a long-delayed shutdown of the facility.The International Atomic Energy Agency team traveled from the North Korean capital of Pyongyang to the Yongbyon reactor, about 60 miles to the northeast.

UN monitors visit NKorea reactor site

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 08:33:28 +0000

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) ? U.N. nuclear monitors returned Friday from a trip to North Korea's plutonium-producing reactor, saying the facility has not been shut down yet but that they were satisfied with their visit there.

The team returned to Pyongyang from the Yongbyon reactor complex, about 60 miles northeast of the North Korean capital, Kyodo News agency reported from the city.

A new response in China

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 08:33:28 +0000

BEIJING - Three seemingly unrelated events may not constitute a trend. But they certainly deserve attention when they shed light on the relationship between the United States and China, which is fast becoming the most important bilateral connection in the world.The first is the much-heralded breakthrough in Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill's negotiations with North Korea. After more than a year in which the six-party talks were suspended, North Korea returned to the table and agree...

Connect dots and you see progress on China front

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 08:33:28 +0000

BEIJING Three seemingly unrelated events may not constitute a trend. But they certainly deserve attention when they shed light on the relationship between the United States and China,which is fast becoming the most important bilateral connection in the world.

The first is the much-heralded breakthrough in Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill's negotiations with North Korea. After more than a year in which the six-party talks were suspended, North Korea returned to the table and agreed to disable its main nuclear reactor under the eyes of international inspectors.

This would not have happened without a change in Chinese policy toward North Korea. Two years ago, Beijing publicly criticized Washington's "lack of cooperation." But after North Korea detonated a nuclear device Oct. 9, Beijing started applying invisible but substantial pressure on North Korea, realizing belatedly that another nuclear neighbor was not in its interest. Once China's strategic interest was aligned with America's, it still took skillful bilateral diplomacy to make progress. There is...

Former intelligence chief arrested on fraud charges

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 08:33:28 +0000

Former Peruvian president wants to seek seat in Japan

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 08:33:28 +0000

LIMA, Peru Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori has accepted an offer to run in Japan's parliamentary elections next month, a member of his political party in Peru confirmed Wednesday.

Congressman Carlos Raffo of Fujimori's Alliance for the Future party said the former president made his decision after "deep analysis and reflection."

Fujimori, who is under house arrest in Chile, also has Japanese citizenship. The 68-year-old former leader is currently awaiting a Chilean judge's extradition ruling.

Inspectors head to reactor site

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 08:33:28 +0000

Clinton, Richardson Urge Bush Administration to Continue Talks With Iran