S. Korean nuclear envoy to visit N. Korea for possible fuel rod purchase

(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with background)
By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, Jan. 13 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's deputy chief nuclear envoy will visit
North Korea this week to discuss Seoul's possible purchase of unused fuel rods
stored at the North's main nuclear plant which is being disabled under a
multilateral deal, a foreign ministry source said Tuesday.

Hwang Joon-kook, director general of the ministry's North Korean nuclear affairs
bureau, will leave Seoul for Beijing on Wednesday, where he will take a flight
to Pyongyang the following day, the source told Yonhap News Agency.
"Hwang will visit Pyongyang and Yongbyon along with a group of related South
Korean experts to examine the condition of the fuel rods," said the source,
requesting anonymity. "He will meet with some North Korean officials."
If the trip is pushed through, Hwang will be the highest South Korean government
official to visit Pyongyang since conservative President Lee Myung-bak took
office in Seoul in February last year, pledging to get tough on the communist
neighbor.
Inter-Korean relations have since been frozen, with North Korea cutting off
virtually all official contact with Seoul. The inter-Korean border is tightly
sealed, and North Korea won't allow any cross-border travel by South Korean
officials.
The date of Hwang's return to Seoul has not been set yet, the source said, adding
that his travel plan will depend on how the negotiations in North Korea would
proceed.
Under an aid-for-denuclearization deal signed with South Korea, the U.S., China,
Russia and Japan in 2007, North Korea is nearing an end to the disablement of
its main Yongbyon nuclear plant.
The six-way talks currently remain deadlocked over ways to verify the North's
declaration of its nuclear program.
Under the six-party agreement, North Korea has so far received about half of the
promised 1 million tons of fuel oil while sealing about 80 percent of the 8,000
spent fuel rods it has removed from its Yongbyon plant.
It's unknown how many unused fuel rods North Korea holds, but the cash-strapped
communist country has indicated that it is willing to sell it to a third country,
possibly South Korea.
It's also unclear whether the South Korean delegation's trip to North Korea would
mark a breakthrough or a step forward in the six-way talks.
Removing the unused fuel rods from the Yongbyon reactor is the last of 11
disablement steps. South Korea hopes it can use the unused North Korean fuel rods
for its nuclear power plants.
South Korea currently has 20 nuclear power plants in operation and several more
under construction.
lcd@yna.co.kr
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