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UN monitors, N. Korea reach agreement on reactor shutdown

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TOKYO, June 29 (RIA Novosti) - UN nuclear inspectors and Pyongyang reached an understanding on shutting down North Korea's main Yongbyon reactor, the Kyodo agency said Friday.

International Atomic Energy Agency Nuclear Safeguards Director Olli Heinonen gave no further details of his talks with the North's nuclear agency, but said earlier he was "satisfied" with the trip, adding the UN nuclear experts were able to inspect all the facilities they had intended to see, including the reactor, a research center, and nuclear fuel production facilities.

Heinonen said earlier five facilities were due to be closed down at Yongbyon.

The IAEA delegation returned to the capital earlier Friday after a two-day trip to the Yongbyon nuclear complex, about 100 km (60 miles) north of the capital, UN officials' first visit since 2002, when North Korea expelled inspectors and subsequently withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

At the previous round of talks in Beijing between North and South Koreas, China, Russia, Japan, and the United States, Pyongyang agreed to close down the reactor and to let UN inspectors monitor its closure, but not until funds frozen at a Macao bank at a U.S. request over alleged counterfeiting and money laundering had been released.

The money, totaling around $25 million, was transferred to Pyongyang last week via a regional Russian bank.

Pyongyang conducted its first nuclear bomb tests in October 2006. They agreed to close down the reactor in exchange for international aid.

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