U.N. Inspectors Arrive to Check Korean A-Plant

U.N. nuclear inspectors arrived at North Korea’s nuclear complex north of the capital, Pyongyang, and started work at one of the plants, the U.N.’s nuclear safeguards agency said Wednesday.

In Seoul, South Korea’s foreign minister, Han Sung Joo, urged North Korea to ease international tensions by cooperating with the U.N. nuclear inspectors, who want to check a reactor refueling operation for evidence of atomic weapons work.

A spokesman at the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency said he was unable to confirm whether the three-member team had visited a nuclear reactor at the complex in Yongbyon, which some reports have said Pyongyang has begun refueling in defiance of the atomic agency.

Some Western governments and intelligence agencies believe that North Korea already possesses a crude nuclear device. Pyongyang has denied this.