NARITA, Japan, JULY 13, SPA -- Efforts to dismantle North Korea'snuclear program gathered pace Friday, with the chief U.S. envoy saying he wants the North's reactor completelydisabled by year's end and U.N. inspectors heading toPyongyang to supervise the shutdown, REPORTED AP. «We'd like to get full declaration (of all nuclearfacilities) in a few months and disabling of the reactor bythe end of the year,» U.S. diplomat Christopher Hill saidafter arriving in Japan, where he was to prepare for nextweek's talks on the North's disarmament. Both Hill and the U.N. experts sounded upbeat about therecent flurry of activity, which includes South Korea'sshipment of promised fuel oil to the North. Meanwhile, the International Atomic Energy Agency team wasset to arrive Saturday in Pyongyang to arrange the nextsteps for deactivating the plutonium-producing reactor,which has been the linchpin of the communist nation'snuclear weapons program and a longtime concern to itsneighbors. «With the kind of help which we (have received) from theDPRK in the past few weeks, we think we will do our job ina successful way,» IAEA team chief Adel Tolba said, usingthe acronym for the North's official name, the DemocraticPeople's Republic of Korea. Tolba's working team from the Vienna-based IAEA will bethe first allowed in by North Korea in nearly five years. The hard-line regime expelled IAEA monitors in late 2002,shutting its nuclear activities to outside view. Meanwhile, North and South Korea, the United States,China, Japan and Russia are scheduled to meet Wednesday andThursday in Beijing to discuss the deal under which theNorth will shut its nuclear facilities in exchange foreconomic and political concessions. «I think the talks will be very smooth,» Hill said.«The plan is to look at all the work we have ahead of usand come up with some kind of work plan on how to completeit.» Further cause for optimism was the South Korean oil tankerheaded to North Korea with the initial delivery of energyaid promised to the impoverished North under the six-nationdeal. North Korea set off a test atomic bomb last October, butthen agreed four months later to scrap its nuclear weaponsprogram in exchange for the concessions. Pyongyang strongly hinted last week that it would shutdown its Yongbyon reactor after receiving an initialshipment of oil under the February deal. The South Korean tanker No. 9 Han Chang sailed for NorthKorea from the port of Ulsan on Thursday, carrying 6,200tons of heavy fuel oil. The ship was expected to arriveearly Saturday in the North's northeastern port of Sonbongand would take about 48 hours to be unloaded. North Korea has been promised a total of 50,000 tons ofoil for shutting the reactor, and it will get 950,000 tonsif it disables all its nuclear facilities. The shutdown effort was delayed because of a disputebetween North Korea and the U.S., which had forced thefreezing North Korean funds in a Macau bank overaccusations of money laundering and counterfeiting. Thedispute was resolved recently as the U.S. helped releasethe funds. In Vienna, Tolba said he and his colleagues were bringing1,000 kilograms (2,200 pounds) of equipment for use duringtheir inspection trip, which was approved Monday by theU.N. agency's 35-nation board. Tolba declined to disclose any specifics about the trip.«It's better that we wait and see, and then we will reportto our board of governors,» he told reporters in Vienna. The trip follows a visit to North Korea by the IAEA'sdeputy director late last month to discuss details of howU.N. experts would verify the shutdown of the Yongbyonreactor. On Wednesday, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei told reportersin Seoul that it was not known if the reactor would be shutdown before the inspectors arrive. «We will verify that they will shut it. Whether they shutit before or not, that is immaterial,» ElBaradei toldreporters.--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/467062