Christopher Hill, Washington’s chief nuclear envoy, stressed that the "toughest sell" will be getting Pyongyang to agree to part with the material. The North has yet to even acknowledge the plutonium exists.

Part of the September 2005 six-party nuclear deal was to establish a peace regime on the Korean peninsula through a separate forum. But it's unclear when such peace talks will begin as some sources say the six countries to the nuclear dialogue have yet to reach consensus. Some of them say they must wait for further progress in the denuclearization process.

North Korea is now in the disablement stage in which it’s agreed to declare and disable its nuclear facilities by year’s end.

U.S. nuclear experts are in the communist country working out details on disablement with their North Korean counterparts and Washington says another team will revisit the Yongbyon nuclear complex next week. If the regime completes this stage, it will receive a supply of heavy fuel oil.

Officials from Seoul and Pyongyang will meet in the North’s Mount Geumgang on Monday to lay the groundwork for a multiparty energy meeting later this month to decide how the oil will be sent to North Korea.

Arirang News