SKorea expects shutdown of NKorea reactor within days

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2007

SEOUL (AFP) — South Korea's foreign minister said 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 communist state.

The North 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 6,200-ton consignment is expected to reach the North around Saturday, Song Min-Soon said, about the same time as an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) delegation arrives in the Stalinist state.

"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...