A fact-finding team from countries to the six-party talks on the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula arrived Tuesday on a mission to follow up progress in the disablement of the nuclear facilities in Yongbyon.

The team, composed of 10 officials and experts from China, South Korea, Japan, the United States and Russia, will head for Yongbyon on Wednesday, said the head of the team, Chen Naiqing, who is also China's ambassador for Korean Peninsula issues.

"Until now the process of disablement in Yongbyon is going on smoothly," Chen said.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) shut down the Yongbyon nuclear reactor in July.

According to a six-party talks joint document released in Beijing on Oct. 3, the DPRK agreed to disable all the existing nuclear facilities and provide a complete and correct declaration of all its nuclear programs by the end of this year.

The document said the disablement of the five-megawatt Experimental Reactor, the Reprocessing Plant (Radiochemical Laboratory) and the Nuclear Fuel Rod Fabrication Facility in Yongbyon would be completed by Dec. 31.

(Xinhua News Agency November 27, 2007)
?