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Sunday July 1, 2:05 PMIAEA official hints at deal with N. Korea over monitoring cameras(Kyodo) _ A senior official of the International Atomic Energy Agency indicated Sunday that North Korea agreed to allow the IAEA to use monitoring cameras to verify the shutdown of the country's key nuclear plant when he visited the country last week.IAEA Deputy Director General Olli Heinonen also said the U.N. nuclear watchdog is hopeful Pyongyang will allow the continuous presence of its inspectors at the Yongbyon nuclear complex to monitor the shutdown and sealing of facilities. "We have a certain understanding on what equipment we will use," Heinonen told reporters when asked if North Korea agreed to use of monitoring cameras as part of the IAEA's activities in Yongbyon. Asked if inspectors will be stationed there rather than being allowed occasional visits, Heinonen said his feeling toward that was "positive." "I think we have a good understanding on what to do and how to do it," Heinonen said shortly before his departure from Beijing to Vienna. He and his team visited North Korea for five days last week to discuss ways for the IAEA to verify and monitor the shutdown of the nuclear complex, which North Korea agreed to do under a Feb. 13 six-way denuclearization deal. While Heinonen said shortly after conclusion of his talks with North Korea that they had reached an "understanding" on the terms of IAEA activities, his comments Sunday were the first on the specific measures the agency may take. The IAEA used its own cameras when they monitored the freeze of nuclear facilities in Yongbyon under an agreement reached between North Korea and the United States in 1994, until inspectors were expelled from the country in December 2002. The cameras were connected with IAEA headquarters in Vienna, allowing images to be sent to headquarters from Yongbyon. Heinonen has said five facilities -- a fuel-rod fabrication plant, a radiochemical laboratory, a five-megawatt reactor and two reactors under construction-- in Yongbyon are likely to be shut down as part of the Feb. 13 deal, but that the timing of when to do so is up to the six countries involved in denuclearization talks. The six parties are North and South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia. |
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