The United States expects North Korea (search) to shut down its plutonium (search)-producing reactor within three weeks, a top U.S. nuclear envoy said Saturday, after returning from a rare visit to the reclusive state.Christopher Hill (search) — the chief U.S. negotiator at international talks on North Korea's nuclear programs — also told reporters in Tokyo that the next round of nuclear negotiations could begin in early July, before a full shutdown of the Yongbyon reactor.
Hill said the reactor would be shutdown after the North and the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agree on how to monitor the process. U.N. inspectors were expected to arrive in the North on Tuesday to discuss the shutdown.
"We do expect this to be soon, but probably within three weeks ... though I don't want to be pinned down on precisely the date," Hill told reporters after briefing his Japanese counterpart on the outcome of his two-day surprise trip to the North Korean capital.
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