U.S. experts start disabling nuclear facilities in DPRK

Special Report: The sixth round of six-party talks

    WASHINGTON, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- The United States said on Monday that its experts have started working to disable nuclear facilities in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

    A team of U.S. nuclear experts had arrived at Yongbyon, north of Pyongyang, where DPRK's sole functioning nuclear reactor is situated and begun the work of disabling the facilities, deputy State Department spokesman Tom Casey told reporters.

    "This is a positive first step in the process and we certainly hope to see it continue," Casey said.

    The spokesman provided no details about the process, but said "This is going to be a process that is going to take some time."

    The DPRK shut down Yongbyon nuclear reactor in July. It agreed to disable all existing nuclear facilities and to provide a complete and correct declaration of all its nuclear programs by the end of this year, according to a joint document released on Oct. 3 when the second phase of the sixth round of six-party talks ended in Beijing.

    The document said the disabling of the five megawatt Experimental Reactor, the Reprocessing Plant (Radiochemical Laboratory) and the Nuclear Fuel Rod Fabrication Facility in Yongbyon would be completed by Dec. 31.

    The six-party talks involve the DPRK, the United States, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia.

Hill: work to disable DPRK nuclear facilities to start Monday

    TOKYO, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- Top U.S. nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill said here Saturday that the team of U.S. experts will start the process to disable the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s Yongbyon nuclear facilities on Monday.

    Hill, also assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, told Japanese media that the team is scheduled to arrive at Yongbyon on Sunday. 

Japan considers joining process of disabling DPRK nuclear facilities

    TOKYO, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Japan is considering the feasibility of participating in the process of disabling the nuclear facilities of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), top Japanese nuclear negotiator Kenichiro Sasae said on Friday.

    Sasae, director general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, made the remarks during a meeting in the evening with his U.S. counterpart Christopher Hill, who is assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs.

U.S.: DPRK's denuclearation is precondition of talks

    SEOUL, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- The United States will only join the talks on a permanent peace agreement on the Korean Peninsula after the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has substantially disabled its nuclear facilities, said Christopher Hill, the U.S. chief negotiator for the six-party talks on Friday here.

    "Our position, which we've had for a long time and continue to have, is upon substantial disablement...we would hope that we could begin a peace negotiation process that would conclude and that we could reach a final peace arrangement when the DPRK finally abandons its nuclear weapons and nuclear programs," the U.S. official said after meeting with his South Korean counterpart Chun Young-woo.

U.S. experts arrive in DPRK for start of nuclear disablement

    PYONGYANG, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- A working group of U.S. experts arrived here Thursday for disablement work on the nuclear facilities of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) which could start early next week.

    The disablement process is expected to start when the nine-member team arrives in Yongbyon next week, according to Sung Kim, head of the team and director of the U.S. State Department's Office of Korea Affairs.

Six parties reach agreement on nuclear issue on Korean Peninsula

    SEOUL, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- All sides participating in the six-party talks reached an agreement Tuesday with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to disable its nuclear facilities in exchange for energy assistance, said a South Korean official.

    The DPRK agreed to start the disablement of its nuclear facilities in exchange for energy assistance from other related parties, said Lim Sung-nam, South Korea's representative at a working-group's talks at the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom.  

Full text of joint document of 2nd session of sixth round six-party talks

    BEIJING, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- A joint document, named the Second-Phase Actions for the Implementation of the Joint Statement, was released here Wednesday after a two-day recess of the second session of the sixth round of the six-party talks.

    The Second Session of the Sixth Round of the Six-Party Talks was held in Beijing among the People's Republic of China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation and the United States of America from 27 to 30 September 2007.