S. Korea, IAEA to discuss N. Korea, other pending issues

By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, May 11 (Yonhap) -- A senior U.N. nuclear watchdog official will meet South
Korea's chief nuclear envoy and other officials later this week to discuss
pending issues including the North Korean nuclear crisis, Seoul's foreign
ministry said Monday.
Olli Heinonen, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)'s deputy director
general for safeguards, plans to hold a series of meetings with officials at
South Korea's foreign ministry, science and technology ministry, and the
presidential office in Seoul on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Heinonen arrived in South Korea on Sunday for a five-day stay during which he
will also attend a regional forum on implementing an IAEA accord. He is slated to
meet Vice Foreign Minister Shin Kak-soo, top nuclear negotiator Wi Sung-lac, and
Oh Joon, deputy foreign minister for international organizations, global issues
and treaties.
"Pending issues will be discussed," foreign ministry spokesman Moon Tae-young
said, adding his ministry will provide a press briefing on the results of the
meetings.
The IAEA official's trip comes as South Korea and its allies struggle to coax
North Korea to rejoin the six-way talks on its nuclear program. The North's
dialogue partners also include the United States, China, Russia, and Japan.
Heinonen made a rare visit to the North's key nuclear sites in Yongbyon in 2007
to discuss how international inspectors would monitor and verify the shutdown of
the plutonium-producing facilities there.
North Korea, however, announced last month that it was putting the facilities
back into operation to protest the U.N. Security Council's condemnation of its
April 5 rocket launch.
lcd@yna.co.kr
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