North Korea is prepared to halt operations at a key nuclear facility in exchange for oil and an easing of US financial restrictions, a news report said yesterday, as the US chief envoy at nuclear disarmament talks launched another round of diplomacy.
US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, who heads up Washington's side of the North Korea nuclear negotiations, was in Seoul, where he was meeting with South Korean officials on ways to make progress at the next round of talks, set to resume on Thursday in Beijing.
Hill was scheduled to meet his South Korean counterpart, Chun Yung-woo, later yesterday.
Japan's Asahi Shimbun, meanwhile, reported that North Korea was prepared to close the reactor in its main nuclear complex in Yongbyon and accept inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) -- although the reactor itself would remain off-limits.
The newspaper quoted former US State Department official Joel Wit, who was in Beijing following meetings with chief North Korean arms negotiator Kim Kye-gwan and other senior officials in Pyongyang days ago.
The North, however, does not intend to close the site used for its October nuclear weapons test, will not allow inspections there and is not prepared to reveal details of its nuclear weapons program, the report cited Wit as saying.
At the coming disarmament talks this week, North Korea will also demand it be taken off Washington's list of states sponsoring terrorism, the report said.
In return, Pyongyang plans to demand energy aid of more than 500,000 tonnes of crude oil per year to compensate for an aborted project to build two light-water reactors in the country, the report said.
The North will also insist that Washington take steps to lift financial sanctions against North Korean assets held in Macau, imposed over the communist regime's alleged counterfeiting of US dollar bills and money laundering activities, the report said.
Hill was not immediately available to comment on the report.
North Korean and US treasury officials last week wrapped up another inconclusive round of negotiations over the financial sanctions.
But US officials have since expressed optimism the financial dispute would not disrupt the main nuclear talks.
Wit was accompanied by US nuclear expert David Albright and traveled to Pyongyang on an official invitation, the report said.
The US had supplied 500,000 tons of heavy fuel oil annually to the North until Pyongyang received the two light-water reactors as a reward under a 1994 deal to freeze its nuclear program.
The deal was scrapped in 2002, however, when the nuclear crisis re-emerged and North Korea kicked out IAEA inspectors.
The international arms talks, which involve the US, the two Koreas, China, Japan and Russia, have made little headway since a 2005 accord, in which the North pledged to disarm in exchange for aid and security guarantees.
At the latest round of discussions in December, the first since the North's Oct. 9 nuclear test, Pyongyang refused to discuss disarmament and demanded the US lift financial sanctions first.
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