N. Korea agrees nuclear arms shutdown steps

North Korea has agreed to wide-ranging UN measures to verify a shutdown of its atom bomb programme, nuclear inspectors said yesterday, but doubts arose about when disarmament would begin.

The International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board of governors will hold a special session on July 9 expected to authorise a new inspector mission based on a groundbreaking visit by an IAEA delegation to North Korea last week.

But the IAEA has said North Korea and five powers dealing with the reclusive Stalinist state must settle on a target date for disabling its Yongbyon nuclear complex, source of its bomb-grade plutonium fuel, before inspectors are deployed.

And US officials in Washington said Pyongyang was now demanding promised shipments of oil before shutting down Yongbyon, raising the possibility of another delay in implementing a February 13 disarmament accord.

North Korea signed an initial deal at six-party talks in February which promises it fuel in return for shutting its Yongbyon reactor. The talks bring together North and South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia.

In a report detailing results of the five-day preparatory visit by his deputies, IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei recommended agency governors approve the return of inspectors whom Pyongyang expelled four-and-a-half years ago.

No opposition was likely at the July 9 gathering. Dr ElBaradei's report, obtained by Reuters and circulated to board members yesterday, described an 11-part "understanding" on verifying disarmament in North Korea, which said last year it had test-detonated its first nuclear device.

"The agency will install, and service as necessary, appropriate containment and surveillance and other devices to monitor and verify the status of the shutdown and/or sealed facilities and equipment," it said.

Transparency measures would give inspectors access to sensitive sites at Yongbyon including the five-megawatt reactor, plutonium reprocessing plant, nuclear fuel fabrication plant, a 50-megawatt reactor under construction, and research labs.