IAEA offers to help verify future US-North Korea deal

The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog said today it stood ready to help verify any future agreements between the US and North Korea over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme.

In a statement, Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, welcomed the statement issued by US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the end of their summit in Singapore, "which includes the DPRK's commitment towards complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula".

"The IAEA will closely follow the negotiations to be held between the two countries to implement the outcomes of the US-DPRK Summit," the statement added.

"The IAEA stands ready to undertake any verification activities in the DPRK that it may be requested to conduct by the countries concerned." Last week Amano said the IAEA would be ready to restart inspection work in North Korea "at short notice, within weeks, not months" if a political agreement were reached, adding that the agency would be able to mobilise "many" staff if needed.

In 2009 Pyongyang expelled IAEA inspectors from its Yongbyon nuclear site and has since refused to allow IAEA inspections on its territory.