IAEA meets to approve funds for North Korea inspections

The UN atomic watchdog agency is expected Monday to allocate its first funds - 3.9 million euros (5.3 million dollars) - to monitor North Korea's start on dismantling its nuclear weapons program.
"There is no trouble ahead, everybody is happy," a European diplomat said about the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board of governors deciding on North Korea in a special one-day session in Vienna. The diplomat was referring to an expected rubber-stamping of IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei's request for 1.7 million euros in 2007 and 2.2 million euros in 2008 for "the monitoring and verification activities in the DPRK (North Korea)," as presented in a confidential IAEA report obtained by AFP.
Japan plans to pay part of the 3.9 million euros, the Nikkei newspaper reported in Tokyo on Saturday, stepping back from its hard line of refusing to supply aid until North Korea moves to resolve the issue of kidnapping of Japanese nationals by North Korean spies. Japan and the United States are expected to provide most of the funds, Kyodo News said. China, Russia and South Korea are the other countries negotiating with North Korea in six-party talks.
But South Korea's Yonhap news agency said the IAEA wanted the five nations, which agreed with North Korea on the disarmament to, foot the bill equally. An IAEA spokesman refused to comment but a diplomat close to the IAEA said the agency felt the burden should be shared beyond mainly the United States and would welcome money from "other countries," in addition to the five in talks with North Korea.
North Korea has said it is prepared to close its main nuclear reactor at Yongbyon, the first step in implementing a six-nation accord brokered in February to get the reclusive state to give up its nuclear weapons programme.
North Korea has agreed to cooperate broadly with the IAEA, according to the report by ElBaradei that was released to board members Tuesday after a trip by agency inspectors to the communist country. The report said Pyongyang would shut down the Yongbyon reactor, which produces plutonium for nuclear weapons, and provide a comprehensive list of nuclear facilities that have been sealed.
A diplomat close to the IAEA said the agency would be maintaining a "permanent two-person inspector presence at Yongbyon" once the inspectors return, which should come soon after Monday's board meeting. North Korea conducted its first test atomic explosion in October last year. It is believed to have several plutonium bombs.
ElBaradei had visited North Korea in March to get IAEA monitoring in place. It was his first trip there since IAEA inspectors were thrown out of the country in December 2002 as Pyongyang moved ahead on weapons work.
North Korea said Friday it is considering shutting down the Yongbyon reactor as soon as a first shipment of heavy fuel reaches the Stalinist state. Energy-starved North Korea is getting 50,000 tons of oil from South Korea in return for closing Yongbyon, and the first shipment is due to be sent Thursday.