The United States will send a team of experts to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) next Tuesday to look into the Yongbyon nuclear reactor, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said yesterday.

The officials will work to create a plan for future teams to begin the disablement of the Yongbyon nuclear reactor, McCormack said.

Top US negotiator in the six-party talks, Christopher Hill, said Tuesday that the United states expects the process of disabling the Yongbyon reactor to get under way "in a matter of weeks."

According to the joint document of the six-party talks released on Wednesday, the DPRK agreed to disable all its existing nuclear facilities subject to abandonment under the September 2005 Joint Statement and the Feb. 13 agreement this year.

The document said the disablement of the five megawatt Experimental Reactor, the Reprocessing Plant (Radiochemical Laboratory) and the Nuclear Fuel Rod Fabrication Facility in Yongbyon will be completed by Dec. 31, 2007.

The six-party talks involve China, the United States, the DPRK, South Korea, Japan and Russia.