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N Korea reactor disabling praised | |
(about 23 hours later) | |
US experts have made a "good start" to the process of dismantling North Korea's main nuclear facility, the leader of the US team has said. | |
Sung Kim praised North Korean officials at the Yongbyon reactor, which produced weapons-grade plutonium, as being "very co-operative". | |
Pyongyang agreed to end its nuclear programme in return for diplomatic concessions and economic aid. | |
US officials say they hope to disable the reactor by the end of the year. | |
"I think we are off to a good start," said Mr Kim. "I hope to achieve all the disablement, at least this phase of disablement, by 31 December." | |
Test detonation | |
The plant has already been closed, and the measures taken by the US team are reversible. But they will put the reactor out of action for at least a year. | |
Working in two or three-week rotations over about two months, the US experts are expected to disable the plant by removing the 8,000 fuel rods that power the reactor. | |
The agreement on disabling came after four years of negotiations involving China, the US, Japan, Russia and the two Koreas. | |
North Korea has also agreed to give a complete declaration of its nuclear programmes by the end of the year. | North Korea has also agreed to give a complete declaration of its nuclear programmes by the end of the year. |
The Yongbyon facility is believed to have produced the material for a test device detonated a year ago, proving the regime's nuclear capability. | |
US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill has said Washington will work closely with North Korea on removing it from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism. | US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill has said Washington will work closely with North Korea on removing it from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism. |
The facility at Yongbyon, about 100km (60 miles) north of Pyongyang, was set up in the 1960s at the height of the Cold War. |