North Korea may be preparing to shut down its main nuclear reactor, news reports said yesterday, renewing hopes that Pyongyang will comply with a disarmament agreement days after it missed a deadline to close the facility.
Meanwhile, South Korea said food aid to the North will be discussed as planned at economic cooperation talks between the Koreas -- despite earlier reports that Seoul was considering halting the shipments in an apparent move to ratchet up pressure on the North, which has requested 400,000 tonnes of rice.
"The issue of food aid will be discussed" at meetings set to begin today in Pyongyang, Deputy Unification Minister Kim Jung-tae told South Korean media at a briefing that foreign reporters were barred from attending.
Kim's comments were later confirmed by the ministry.
South Korea has periodically sent rice and fertilizer to the impoverished North since a 2000 summit spawned a historic reconciliation between the Koreas, but often faces criticism from conservatives here and abroad for being too lenient on its neighbor.
North Korea's Yongbyon reactor remained in operation yesterday, but there was a high possibility that movement of cars and people at the site recorded in satellite photos could be linked to a shutdown, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported, citing an unnamed intelligence official. The Dong-a Ilbo newspaper carried a similar report.
An official at the National Intelligence Service, South Korea's main spy agency, said they were "following and analyzing some peculiar movements" around the reactor in North Korea, without elaborating.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity, citing policy.
Yonhap news agency cited another unnamed intelligence official as saying that South Korea and the US have been closely monitoring some movement since a month ago.
"The intensity of these activities has increased from about a week or two ago," the official was quoted as saying. "There are activities other than cars and people moving busily."
The report comes after the North missed a Saturday deadline to shut down the reactor and allow UN inspectors to verify and seal the facility under a February agreement with the US and four other countries.
If the North complies, that would be its first move toward stopping its nuclear program since 2002, the start of the latest nuclear standoff.
The North is believed to have produced as many as a dozen atomic bombs since then, and conducted an underground nuclear test in October.
Pyongyang said last week that honoring its pledge was contingent on the release of money frozen after Washington blacklisted a bank where North Korea had accounts. The funds were allegedly used in money laundering and counterfeiting.
The money was freed for withdrawal last week, but it's unclear when the North will move to get its US$25 million.
South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon spoke by telephone yesterday with his US counterpart, Condoleezza Rice, and the two "strongly expressed expectations that North Korea will soon implement disarmament measures," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Song and Rice "reaffirmed that the door to resolving the [bank] issue is clearly open to North Korea and agreed to continue discussions among related countries to resolve the issue," the statement said.
China said yesterday that it hoped the bank dispute would be resolved and progress made on disarming the North.
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