SEOUL, March 2 (UPI) -- The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency will visit North Korea later this month to discuss inspections, a Seoul official said Friday.
Mohammad el-Baradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, is due to visit Pyongyang during the week of March 11 to discuss inspections of the North's nuclear facilities, a Foreign Ministry official said.
Under a Feb. 13 deal, the communist North agreed to shut down its plutonium-producing reactor at Yongbyon, north of Pyongyang, within 60 days and admit U.N. nuclear inspectors, in return for massive energy aid.
North Korea expelled IAEA inspectors in late 2002 when the latest nuclear crisis erupted.
El-Baradei is expected to meet Ri Je Son, director general of the General Department of Atomic Energy of North Korea, the official said.
