Three senior officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency arrived in Pyongyang yesterday to begin a visit to certain North Korean nuclear facilities, said IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming (see GSN, Jan. 7). 

North Korean officials told the IAEA in November that it could send technical experts to visit an isotope production laboratory in Yongbyon, north of the capital Pyongyang.  The officials specified that the visitors must not conduct inspections.  The experts are scheduled to leave North Korea Saturday.

“This is a small but welcome step toward a return to full-fledged inspections required under North Korea’s safeguard agreement,” said IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei (see GSN, Jan. 11).

North Korea said it uses the isotope laboratory to develop nuclear materials with medical and industrial applications.  A former IAEA member until it withdrew from the agency in 1994, North Korea has allowed some IAEA officials to remain at Yongbyon to monitor some inactive facilities that could be used to divert weapon-grade nuclear materials (Vanessa Gera, Associated Press/Yahoo.com, Jan. 15).

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