We Want Some Of Our Cash & Oil Too

Seoul, North Korea has told a visiting US delegation it will take initial steps to shut down its main nuclear reactor within a day of receiving funds frozen in a Macau bank.

New Mexico state governor Bill Richardson said he was given the assurance during his trip to Pyongyang this week at the head of a US delegation.

"The North Korean Government told us that with the (bank) issue resolved, it would move promptly, within a day after receiving the funds," Mr Richardson said yesterday.

"And therefore, within that day it would invite the IAEA inspectorate to Pyongyang to draft the terms for shutting down the Yongbyon reactor."

North Korea expelled International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors in late 2002 after the latest crisis over its nuclear program began.

Mr Richardson said he believed the communist state was committed to the six-nation February 13 agreement to disable its nuclear programs in exchange for one million tonnes of fuel oil or its equivalent and diplomatic benefits, as well as its bank funds.

Pyongyang's chief nuclear negotiator, Kim Kye-Gwan, reportedly made the promise to the US team after accepting assurances the North would soon receive the funds that had been frozen in a Macau bank on US instructions.

The US team's official mission was to secure the remains of US troops killed in the Korean War, but it also discussed the nuclear dispute.

Mr Richardson and his party crossed the Korean border yesterday with remains believed to be of six US soldiers, the US military said.




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