U.S. envoy in N. Korea to inspect nuclear complex

SEOUL, South Korea -- The top U.S. envoy on North Korea made a rare visit to the communist country Monday to inspect work to disable its nuclear complex so that Pyongyang will no longer be able to produce atomic bombs.

North Korea began disabling its plutonium-producing reactor and other related facilities last month under the guidance of U.S. experts, a key milestone in international diplomacy aimed at persuading Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear ambitions in return for economic aid and other benefits.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill is the highest-level U.S. official to check on the disablement at the North's nuclear plant in Yongbyon, north of Pyongyang. He arrived in North Korea for a three-day trip, broadcaster APTN reported from Pyongyang, traveling on a military plane that departed from a U.S. air base in South Korea.

North Korea had promised to complete the disabling measures by year's end, but lead South Korean nuclear envoy Chun Yung-woo said last week it could take longer to remove about 8,000 spent fuel rods from the reactor due to technical reasons.

A key issue during Hill's trip was also expected to be another North Korean pledge to declare all its nuclear programs by the end of this year.

Hill said last week that the North is finalizing the declaration of its nuclear programs and that he will talk about the document with the North Koreans. The declaration will serve as a map of all North Korea's nuclear programs, which Washington hopes can be dismantled by the end of 2008.

The U.S. envoy visited the North once before in June, becoming the first high-level U.S. official to visit the secretive country in more than four years.

The North defiantly conducted its first-ever nuclear test in October last year, prompting international condemnation and sanctions. Experts estimate the North has enough weapons-grade plutonium to make about a dozen bombs.

After Hill's trip to the North, international arms talks involving the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan were expected to resume in China later this week.

Also Monday, South Korea's senior presidential security adviser, Baek Jong-chun, left for the U.S. for talks on ways to establish peace on the Korean peninsula -- which is still technically in state of war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an cease-fire that has never been replaced with a peace treaty.

After meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in October, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun called for a summit among the two Koreas, the U.S. and China to formally end the Korean War. But Washington has remained skeptical of the idea, saying the North should first totally dismantle its nuclear programs.