U.N. inspector team heads to North Korea

vienna -- A United Nations team left for North Korea on Thursday to supervise the shutdown of the plutonium-producing nuclear reactor that is the key component of the reclusive communist nation’s atomic weapons program.

The inspectors departed as a South Korean tanker headed to North Korea carrying a load of oil, the initial delivery of energy aid promised to the North under a six-nation deal aimed at dismantling its nuclear weapons program.

The arrival of U.N. experts will mark the first time in nearly five years that North Korea allows in a working team from the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog. The hard-line regime expelled IAEA monitors in late 2002.

But, four months after testing a nuclear device last October, North Korea agreed to scrap its nuclear weapons program in exchange for economic and political concessions in a deal with the United States, China, Japan, South Korea and Russia.

The nine IAEA experts flew to Beijing and were expected to travel from there to Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, on Saturday. A 10th expert was expected to join the group.

North Korea strongly hinted last week that it would shut down its Yongbyon reactor after receiving an initial shipment of oil under the February deal.

The South Korean tanker No. 9 Han Chang sailed for North Korea from the port of Ulsan on Thursday, carrying 6,200 tons of heavy fuel oil. The ship was expected to arrive Saturday in the northeastern port of Sonbong.

North Korea has been promised a total of 50,000 tons of oil for shutting the reactor, and it will get 950,000 tons if it disables all its nuclear facilities.

The shutdown effort was delayed because of a dispute between North Korea and the U.S., which had forced the freezing of North Korean funds in a Macao bank over accusations of money laundering and counterfeiting. The dispute was resolved recently, and the U.S. facilitated the release of the funds.