SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - The top U.S. envoy on North Korea departed for the communist country Monday to inspect work to disable its main nuclear reactor, the U.S. Embassy in Seoul said. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill would be the highest-level U.S. official to check on the work at the plant in Yongbyon, north of Pyongyang.
North Korea began disabling its plutonium-producing reactor and other related facilities last month under the guidance of U.S. experts, a key milestone in international diplomacy aimed at persuading Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear ambitions in return for economic aid and other benefits. North Korea had promised to complete the measures by year's end, but lead South Korean nuclear envoy Chun Yung-woo said last week it would take longer to remove about 8,000 spent fuel rods from the reactor.
A key issue during Hill's three-day trip was expected to be another North Korean pledge to declare all its nuclear programs by the end of this year. Hill said last week that the North is finalizing the declaration of its nuclear programs and that he will talk about the document with the North Koreans. The declaration will serve as a map of all North Korea's nuclear programs, which Washington hopes can be dismantled by the end of 2008.
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