Envoys from the United States, China, Russia, Japan and South and North Korea gathered in the Chinese capital after a two-day recess on Wednesday to finalize a timeline for Pyongyang to shut down all its nuclear facilities and provide full data on its nuclear program in exchange for aid.
Pyongyang is to decommission a 5 MW nuclear reactor, a radiochemical lab and a fuel processing plant. All three facilities are currently closed down and sealed off.
A statement agreed at the six-party disarmament talks said U.S. representatives will lead the work to decommission the facilities within two weeks. The statement also said that the United States is to head disablement activities and provide preliminary funding, and that North Korea has pledged not to transfer nuclear materials, technology or know-how.
North Korea, which tested a nuclear bomb last October, closed down its main nuclear reactor in July under the February six-party deal, a major breakthrough in talks which have continued for over three years.
In exchange, the North will receive 950,000 metric tons of fuel oil for its thermal power-generating plants, in addition to the 50,000 already delivered for the reactor's closure.
The statement also confirms that North Korea will receive aid equivalent to 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil and that the U.S. will move towards removing the country from a terrorism blacklist.
