CHRONOLOGY-Deadlines, delays since North Korea's nuclear test
Source: Reuters
(For related story see KOREA NORTH/USA or [ID:nN03263207]) Oct 4 (Reuters) - North Korea could begin to declare its nuclear programmes as early as next week, and in return, get 50,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil from Washington later this month, a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday. Here are some key dates in the ongoing negotiations over dismantling the reclusive communist country's nuclear program since it conducted its first nuclear test. * Oct 9, 2006: North Korea explodes its first nuclear device, provoking international condemnation. * Feb. 13, 2007: At breakthrough six-party deal reached by China, Japan, Russia, North and South Korea, and the United States, North Korea agrees to shut its Soviet-era nuclear reactor that is the source of its weapons-grade plutonium, allow international inspections, and give a full account of its nuclear program. * March-June: Deadlines set in February lapse and implementation of deal stalls until June, as North Korea awaits release of $25 million of funds frozen in a Macau bank by Washington over alleged money laundering. * July 12: South Korea starts the transfer of 50,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil to the energy-starved North, as part of the disarmament deal. * July 16: The International Atomic Energy Agency confirms North has shut reactor at Yongbyon after the agency's first visit to North Korea in four and a half years. * Sept. 11: U.S. officials and nuclear experts cross into North Korea to survey the communist state's nuclear facilities along with nuclear experts from Russia and China. * Oct 1: A tentative year-end deadline is set for the disabling of three facilities at Yongbyon and declaration of the North's nuclear program in a draft six-party joint statement, diplomatic sources say one day after talks close. * Oct. 3: U.S. President George W. Bush welcomes announcement that North Korea could shut nuclear facilities by the year-end. * Oct 4: A senior U.S. official says North Korea may declare its nuclear program next week, in return for 50,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil from Washington later this month under agreements reached in the six-party talks that have pledged a total of one million tonnes of heavy fuel oil or its equivalent to North Korea in exchange for disabling all of its nuclear facilities. Source: Reuters
| AlertNet news is provided by |  |
