North Korean nuclear disabling to begin Monday

TOKYO (Reuters) - U.S. technicians are expected to begin on Monday the process to dismantle North Korea's nuclear complex, which makes weapons-grade plutonium, a senior U.S. envoy said on Saturday.

"They will begin the process of disabling the DPRK (North Korea) plutonium production facilities in Yongbyon," Christopher Hill told a news conference.

"They will be going to Yongbyon tomorrow, and by Monday they'll begin their work," he said.

Hill, the top U.S. envoy to six-way talks to end Pyongyang's nuclear arms program, had said in Beijing on Thursday that the work was likely to begin by the end of this week.

In Seoul on Friday, Hill said U.N. sanctions imposed on North Korea for its nuclear test last year would only be lifted after Pyongyang scraps its atomic weapons program.

The U.N. Security Council last year imposed a ban on international trade that aids the North's weapons programs after Pyongyang defied international warnings and conducted its first nuclear test in October last year.

U.S. officials estimate the North has about 50 kg (110 lb) of plutonium. Proliferation experts say that is enough for six to eight bombs.

The North is required to provide a complete accounting of its fissile material and nuclear arms program by the end of this year under a deal it reached with China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States.

Separately, Japan's Kyodo news agency said on Saturday that Hill's North Korean counterpart indicated that Pyongyang would include a suspected uranium enrichment program in the declaration of its nuclear programs that must be submitted at the year-end.

Kyodo said Kim Kye-gwan, who met Hill on Wednesday, was speaking to reporters in Beijing.