Inspectors from the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA - official website) will be allowed in North Korea:

North Korea has offered to allow United Nations nuclear inspectors to enter the country for the first time in more than four years, Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico said here today after making an official visit to North Korea and meeting with senior officials there.

But North Korea has also asked for a long extension of the 14 April deadline for shutting down the Yongbyon nuclear reactor:

However, North Korea told a U.S. delegation that it wants to delay a Saturday deadline for switching off its sole operating nuclear reactor by 30 days. . .

Still, no inspectors or initiation of reactor shutdown until the Banco Delta funds are received:

But [Gov. Bill] Richardson, speaking in Seoul after a trip to the North, said it could be some 30 days before the reactor begins shutting down and that it would require an “extraordinary effort” to meet Saturday’s deadline under a February deal with regional powers to actually start decommissioning the reactor.

“The North Korean government told us that with that (bank) issue resolved, … [North Korea] would move promptly, within a day, after receiving the funds,” said Richardson, who during his visit had met Pyongyang’s chief nuclear negotiator, Kim Kye-gwan.

“And therefore within that day, (North Korea will) invite the IAEA to Pyongyang and inspectors to draw up the terms for shutting down the Yongbyon reactor.”

[. . .]

“In an offhanded way, a DPRK (North Korean) official mentioned that perhaps 30 additional days would be needed because of the current delay” prompted by the blocked funds issue, Richardson said. (emphasis added)

As noted yesterday, that completely misses the deadline set forth in the 13 February agreement, and is part of an unsettling trend in current negotiations for not strictly adhering to the bargain. The problem is that it’s not an aggregous violation, and North Korea can claim - though falsely - outside actors “forced” it to delay, even though BDA funds were not in the February agreement. The Whitehouse has hinted they’ll let it slide, but did not say so today:

In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the United States and other members of the six-party talks on North Korea would “see where we are” on Saturday, but declined to say whether Pyongyang would face any consequences for missing the deadline.

“We would expect the North Koreans to act in such a way that they meet their obligations” under the February 13 agreement, McCormack told reporters.

It’s now late on 11 February on America’s East Coast, and the morning of the 12th on the Korean Peninsula, meaning it’s extremely unlikely that the deadline of the 14th will be met, especially considering that the 15th – Kim Il-sung’s birthday – is perhaps North Korea’s most important national holiday.

We’ll see what tomorrow’s news brings.