SKorea completes oil shipment to NKorea for nuclear reactor shutdown

South Korean oil tanker Han-chang departs from a port in Ulsan, about 414 km southeast of Seoul.


North Korea Gets Last Oil Batch

SEOUL, July 29--South Korea shipped the last batch of heavy fuel oil to North Korea Sunday under the first stage of an aid-for-disarmament pact, officials say.
A ship carrying the fifth and final consignment of 22,600 tons left the southern port of Ulsan for North Korea early Sunday, Jeong Gil-Ju, said an official of Ulsan maritime and fisheries office.
The vessel is headed to the North's northeastern port of Sonbong, he said. Previous shipments on the route usually take a day or two.
Under the first phase of a six-nation February disarmament pact, energy-starved North Korea is to receive 50,000 tons of oil in return for the shutdown and sealing its Yongbyon reactor in the presence of UN atomic inspectors.
South Korea launched the promised energy aid on July 12 with the first shipment of 6,200 tons.
The UN's International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed North Korea's shutdown of its five main nuclear facilities, including a plutonium-producing reactor, at Yongbyon since mid-July.
A second team of the agency arrived in North Korea Saturday to continue monitoring the secretive state's shutdown of its nuclear weapons programs.
The North will receive another 950,000 tons of oil or equivalent aid, as well as major diplomatic and security concessions, if it permanently disables all its nuclear facilities and declares all its programs.
North Korea confirmed that it would abide by the agreement earlier this month when the six-party talks -- grouping the two Koreas, China, the United States, Japan and Russia -- resumed in Beijing.
Working group meetings are to follow next month to negotiate and set a deadline for North Korea to declare and disable all its nuclear programs.
A working-group meeting on aid to North Korea will likely open at the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom, 60 km (37 miles) north of Seoul, on August 8-9, Yonhap news agency said Sunday citing unnamed government officials.




SKorea completes oil shipment to NKorea for nuclear reactor shutdown

2007-07-29 03:22:34 -

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - South Korea sent the last in a series of oil shipments to North Korea on Sunday, completing an economic reward for Pyongyang to shut down its sole operating nuclear reactor under an international accord.
The 22,600 tons of heavy fuel oil is the fifth batch that rounds out the promised supply of 50,000 tons to the energy-starved North in exchange for closing its Yongbyon reactor under a February disarmament-for-aid deal.
The last shipment left the port of Ulsan in southeastern South Korea at around 1 a.m. (1600 GMT Saturday) and is expected to arrive at the port of Sonbong in North Korea's northeast on Monday, a South Korean official said on customary condition of anonymity citing protocols.
North Korea shut the reactor earlier this month shortly after receiving the first oil shipment. It was the first tangible North Korean move to scale back its nuclear programs since the nuclear standoff erupted in late 2002.
Following the shutdown, the February deal _ reached between China, Japan, the two Koreas, the United States and Russia _ calls for Pyongyang to divulge all its nuclear programs and disable its facilities for an additional 950,000 tons of oil or equivalent aid.
The six countries held their latest meeting in Beijing earlier this month to discuss the next steps, but the talks ended without setting a deadline for the moves.