North Korea negotiator says ready to act on deal - Kyodo

TOKYO (Reuters) - North Korea is ready to act on the energy-for-disarmament agreement reached this week over Pyongyang's initial steps for denuclearisation, North Korea's delegate to the six-party nuclear talks said on Thursday, Kyodo news reported.

"The talks went well," Kyodo quoted North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan as telling the Russian ambassador to North Korea at the airport in Pyongyang. "We are ready to implement the results of the meeting."

Under the agreement hammered out in Beijing on Tuesday by the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, Russia and China, Pyongyang must take steps to shut down its main nuclear reactor within 60 days. In return, it will receive 50,000 tonnes of fuel oil or economic aid of equal value.

A student reads a book about North Korea leader Kim Jong-il at a bookstore in Seoul, February 15, 2007. (REUTERS/Lee Jae-Won)

The North will receive another 950,000 tonnes of fuel oil or equivalent when it takes further steps to disable its nuclear capabilities. The fuel would be worth around $300 million at current prices.

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