U.S. team visits N. Korean complex
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The unofficial U.S. team is made up of nuclear and military experts.
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North Korea is offering a deal that could halt its nuclear program in return for concessions from Washington. CNN's David Ensor explains. (January 6)
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BEIJING, China -- A U.S. delegation returning from North Korea says it has toured the key Yongbyon nuclear complex.
The trip to Yongbyon marks the first time outsiders have been allowed in the plant since U.N. inspectors were expelled a year ago amid an escalation of nuclear tensions on the peninsula.
One of the team members, Stanford University professor emeritus John Lewis, told reporters in Beijing on Saturday they went to the site, but declined to comment on what they saw there.
Washington suspects the Yongbyon facility is being used to reprocess spent nuclear fuel rods into plutonium for use in nuclear weapons.
During their five-day trip, the U.S. group met with military and economic officials as well as scientists, Lewis said, adding Pyongyang allowed the team to visit everything they wanted to see.
While the delegation does not include representatives from the U.S. government, Secretary of State Colin Powell said this week he hoped the mission would go well, as Washington and its allies try to reconvene talks with Pyongyang over its nuclear ambitions.
Tensions on the peninsula mounted in October 2002, when U.S. officials said North Korea admitted having a secret nuclear weapons program in violation of international agreements.
Washington has labeled North Korea part of an "axis of evil," along with Iraq and Iran, and is demanding the communist state shut down its nuclear program immediately.
It is working with four nations -- South Korea, China, Japan and Russia -- to pile the pressure on Pyongyang.
The five nations held talks with North Korea in Beijing in August, but those discussions broke down quickly after Pyongyang demanded a non-aggression pact with the United States.
In its latest move, Pyongyang this week offered to dismantle its nuclear weapons program and nuclear power industry in exchange for fuel and power aid from the United States.
Calling that offer a "positive step," Powell said Wednesday no date has been scheduled for when the six sides might meet, but progress was being made.
Japan insisted Friday that Pyongyang must abandon its nuclear program completely.
