North Korea's first steps to roll back its nuclear programme are going well, a US official said today.
The Koreans struck a deal with regional powers last month to disable its Soviet-era nuclear complex in exchange for aid and an end to its international ostracism.
US State Department official Sung Kim
"I think we are off to a good start," US State Department official Sung Kim said after visiting a plutonium-producing atomic complex. Mr Kim was with a team of US nuclear specialists who arrived in North Korea last week.
He said there have been steps to reverse the operations at all three of the key facilities - the North's ageing reactor, a plant that produces nuclear fuel and another that turns spent fuel in arms-grade plutonium.
The deal calls for North Korea to disable these three plants by the end of the year, provide a complete list of its nuclear arms activity and account for all its fissile material.
In exchange, the impoverished North will receive a million tonnes of heavy fuel oil or equivalent aid. The United States will also move toward taking North Korea off its terrorism blacklist.