UN hopeful over North Korea deal

Mr ElBaradei spoke after returning from talks in Pyongyang

The head of UN nuclear watchdog agency, the IAEA, says he is hopeful that North Korea will meet a key deadline for closing nuclear facilities.

Mohamed ElBaradei told journalists he believed Pyongyang wanted to respect the schedule set out in last month's six-party agreement in Beijing.

Under the deal, North Korea has 60 days to seal its Yongbyon nuclear reactor, in return for economic and energy aid.

There have been some positive signs from other parties to the agreement.

South Korea - which signed the deal along with the US, China, Russia and Japan - has announced it will resume aid shipments to the North.

It suspended the shipments following Pyongyang's missile and nuclear tests last year.

The US, meanwhile, has taken steps that could lead to the release of North Korean accounts frozen in a Macau bank - a key North Korean demand.

North Korea on Saturday reaffirmed that it would not shut down facilities until the funds were fully released.

'Up to them'

Mr ElBaradei was speaking after he returned to the Austrian capital, Vienna, after holding talks in Pyongyang on the resumption of international inspections.

Will N Korea keep its vow? Q&A: Nuclear standoff

He said he hoped the 13 April deadline for the closure of the Yongbyon reactor would be met.

"We still hope we'll do it but it is up to them now," he said. "The earlier they invite us, the more possible that we will meet the deadline."

"If the financial sanctions are over, then we expect the DPRK (North Korea) to invite us to work out the modalities of monitoring and verification" of the Yongbyon closure, he said.

IAEA inspectors were on standby to go to North Korea if there was a breakthrough, he said.

Separately, US nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill said that good progress had been made in the month since the deal.

"I would say we're in pretty good shape after 30 days, but now the next 30 days will involve some very serious implementation," he told journalists in Beijing.

Mr Hill is in the Chinese capital for preparatory discussions ahead of more high-level talks on implementing the deal next week.