North Korea says it will allow UN inspectors to return

North Korea says it will allow UN inspectors to return

2010-12-20 15:17:41 GMT+7 (ICT)

PYONGYANG (BNO NEWS) -- North Korea on Monday agreed to allow the return of U.N. inspectors following talks with New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, a possible sign that the communist state is more willing to cooperate with the international community.

CNN reporter Wolf Blitzer is accompanying Richardson, who previously served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Blitzer said, citing Richardson, that North Korea had agreed to a series of actions.

"They will allow International Atomic Energy Agency personnel, IAEA personnel, to come back to the Yongbyon nuclear facility in North Korea to make sure that there is no more enrichment of uranium to weapons-grade quality," Blitzer told CNN.

The news on Monday came as a surprise to the international community, and officials were cautious to respond. It came just when South Korea carried out a live-fire artillery drill near the disputed Yeonpyeong Island, which North Korea had promised to retaliate to.

In addition to the U.N. inspections, Blitzer said that North Korea had also agreed to negotiate the sale of 12,000 fresh fuel rods and ship them to an outside country, presumably to South Korea. These fuel rods could be used to create six to eight nuclear weapons, CNN reported.

Earlier, on Sunday, a top North Korean general offered Richardson to help return the remains of several hundred American soldiers who were killed during the Korean War. More than 8,000 U.S. service members remain missing following this war, which ended in mid-1953.

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