US gives money for monitoring in North Korea - ambassador
VIENNA (AFP) — The United States has provided more than two million dollars (1.5 million euros) for UN nuclear monitoring in North Korea, the US ambassador said Tuesday.
"To further support the work of IAEA monitoring and verification activities in the DPRK (North Korea), the United States has transferred 1,800,000 dollars from our voluntary cooperation to help cover associated expenses," Gregory Schulte told a meeting of the UN watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) here.
"This is in addition to the 513,000 dollars previously provided," Schulte said.
Schulte said the IAEA's work verifying the shutdown of five nuclear facilities at Yongbyon and Taechon was "important and at times can even be dangerous, due to the presence of possible contamination."
The IAEA's policy-making board of governors had on July 9 granted its chief Mohammed ElBaradei 1.7 million euros (2.3 million dollars) in 2007 and 2.2 million euros in 2008 for "monitoring and verification activities" in North Korea.
ElBaradei said there should be no problem in getting the money, since the United States has already committed millions of dollars. He said he expected "a number of countries" to contribute.
Diplomats said the IAEA would be maintaining a "permanent two-person inspector presence at Yongbyon."
IAEA inspectors in July returned to North Korea for the first time since 2002, when the agency was kicked out as Pyongyang moved to re-start its Yongbyon plutonium-producing nuclear reactor and resume weapons work.
The visit by the inspectors in July was to verify the first steps by Pyongyang in dismantling its nuclear weapons programme, a process that is expected to be long and difficult.
The reclusive, Stalinist state conducted its first nuclear test in October last year. It is believed to have several plutonium bombs.
North Korea agreed to shut down Yongbyon, in a six-party agreement reached on February 13. The accord, which secures fuel supplies for North Korea, is a first step towards Pyongyang giving up its nuclear weapons.
Actual disarmament may remain elusive: The United States suspects North Korea is hiding a separate uranium enrichment program that can also make atom bombs, and six-party talks have yet to agree on the modalities of decommissioning facilities and weapons.
ElBaradei visited North Korea in March to set up IAEA monitoring there, but a banking dispute over millions of dollars blocked by US sanctions delayed the closing of Yongbyon beyond what was supposed to be an April 13 deadline.
US technical experts Tuesday began a rare visit to North Korea.
The invitation is seen as a hopeful sign that North Korea is serious about permanently shutting down its plants.
