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N. Korea to shut reactor when first fuel oil delivered - agency-1

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MOSCOW, July 5 (RIA Novosti) - North Korea is ready to shut down its nuclear reactor once it receives the first shipment of fuel oil to operate its heat and electric power plants, the Yonhap news agency said Thursday, citing a government source.

South Korea said earlier Thursday it will begin delivering fuel oil to North Korea July 14 now that Pyongyang has pledged to shut down its nuclear reactor. Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Nam-sik said earlier the first shipment will be 5,000 to 10,000 tons.

Six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear program could reopen July 14 in Beijing if Pyongyang shuts down its nuclear reactor next week, Yonhap said, citing informed sources.

Moscow has done what it promised to do in resolving the problems surrounding North Korea's nuclear program and will wait for the six-party deal to materialize, Russia's foreign minister said Thursday.

"Our position is that Russia has fulfilled its part of the deal [North Korea]. Moscow helped in the transfer of Pyongyang's money to our bank. Now there are no more financial obstacles preventing agreements reached earlier this year from being honored. As soon as they materialize, we will talk about a special representative meeting, [leading to] a ministerial meeting at a later stage," Sergei Lavrov said after talks with Finland's Foreign Minister Ilkka Kanerva.

Last week Seoul announced its intention to launch fuel oil deliveries within the next two weeks in a bid to supply Pyongyang with 50,000 metric tons within 20 days.

Fuel supplies were a condition for Pyongyang to begin undertaking measures as part of the first stage of its denuclearization. South Korea is expected to deliver 50,000 metric tons of fuel oil first, to be followed by another 950,000 metric tons from the United States, Russia and China.

Japan refused to join the assistance program until the problem of its nationals kidnapped by North Korean security services in the 1970s-1980s is solved. The latest reports said Japan also opposed South Korea's intention to launch fuel oil supplies until Pyongyang shuts down its nuclear reactor.

Japanese Cabinet spokesman Yasuhisa Shiozaki insisted Wednesday that international assistance and the closure of the reactor be carried out in parallel, though North Korea had asked for assistance first.

Last week, a delegation of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Pyongyang reached an understanding on shutting down North Korea's main Yongbyon reactor. IAEA experts are expected to arrive in North Korea July 12-14 to monitor the closure of its nuclear facilities.

But Japan said Tuesday six-party negotiations were unlikely to go ahead in early July as Washington had hoped.

"The IAEA Board of Governors will hold a session July 9 and the [six-party] negotiations will start after the session," Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso said. "All of this will take several weeks, and therefore it is unlikely that the talks will be held in early July."

He added that the participants in the negotiations initially need to discuss the results of last week's nuclear watchdog inspection, which was led by IAEA Nuclear Safeguards Director Olli Heinonen.

The delegation made a two-day trip to the Yongbyon nuclear complex, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of the capital, the first visit by UN officials since 2002, when North Korea expelled inspectors and subsequently withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

At the previous round of talks in Beijing between North and South Korea, China, Russia, Japan and the United States, Pyongyang agreed to close down the reactor and to let UN inspectors monitor its closure, but only after funds frozen at the request of the U.S. in a Macao bank had been transferred.

The money, totaling around $25 million, was transferred to Pyongyang two weeks ago via a regional Russian bank.

Pyongyang conducted its first nuclear bomb tests in October 2006. The country agreed to close down the reactor in exchange for international aid.

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