South Korea's foreign minister said on Wednesday he expects North Korea to shut down its nuclear reactor within days, as soon as UN monitors and a fuel oil aid shipment arrive in the North.
Pyongyang has previously said it is considering closing the Yongbyon reactor, which produces the raw material for bomb-making plutonium, as soon as the first oil shipment arrives.
That consignment is expected to reach the North around Saturday, Foreign Minister Song Min-soon said, about the same time as an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) delegation arrives in Pyongyang.
"The arrival of the first shipment of heavy oil in the North, the visit by an IAEA delegation to the North and the shutdown and sealing [of the reactor] will take place about the same time," Song told reporters.
IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei, speaking on arrival in Seoul for a conference, also said he expects the inspectors to arrive on Saturday.
Preparations for the reactor's closure, the first phase of a six-nation February nuclear disarmament pact, are speeding up after months of stalemate.
The IAEA said on Tuesday its inspectors would leave for the North in the next few days after receiving a formal invitation from Pyongyang to monitor the reactor shutdown.
The six-nation group will meet again next week -- probably on Wednesday although no date has been formally announced.
Song said next week's talks will cover the second stage of the February pact following the reactor shutdown.
Song said the February deal requires North Korea to dismantle all its nuclear programs -- whether plutonium-based or uranium-based.
ElBaradei has said a shutdown should take only a few days but surveillance cameras and other equipment would then have to be installed.
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