DPRK Delegation Visits S.Korea for Nuclear Reactor Program

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, December 18, 2001

DPRK Delegation Visits S.Korea for Nuclear Reactor Program

A 20-member delegation from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) arrived here Sunday for a two-week tour of inspecting nuclear training facilities in South Korea, according to government officials Monday.

The tour is part of a training agreement signed between the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) and the DPRK on October 20, 2000.

The DPRK delegation is to inspect training facilities in North and South Kyongsang provinces in the country where DPRK nuclear experts and technicians will be trained in the coming two years for safe operation of the two light-water reactors under construction in the DPRK.

It left here Monday afternoon for Ulchin, North Kyongsang Province, which holds South Korea's No. 3 and No. 4 reactors, the standard models for the two reactors the KEDO is building in the DPRK in accordance with the 1994 DPRK-U.S. Framework Agreement signed in Geneva.

It will also visit the Kori nuclear power station in South Kyongsang province, where most of the technical training for DPRK technicians will be held, and Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction Co. in Changwon which is manufacturing parts for the DPRK's reactors.

Under the training agreement, some 290 DPRK technicians will come to South Korea in separate groups over the next two years fortraining. Their courses will run from six to 40 weeks. All training costs will be paid by the KEDO, which was established in 1995 according to the framework agreement.

In 1994, a U.S.-led international group signed an agreement with the DPRK, promising to construct two light-water reactors in the DPRK in return for Pyongyang's suspension of its nuclear development program.

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