BEIJING, July 14 (Xinhua) -- A South Korean ship carrying 6,200 tons of heavy fuel oil arrived on Saturday morning at the northeastern port of Songbong in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the South Korean Unification Ministry said.

    The delivery of heavy fuel oil to the DPRK is in line with the Feb. 13 agreement reached at the latest six-party talks on the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula.

    The DPRK Foreign Ministry said on July 6 the country would begin to close and seal its nuclear facilities in Yongbyon after receiving one tenth of the 50,000 tons of promised heavy fuel aid.

    Heavy fuel oil has been an important component of the solution to the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula since the DPRK and the United States signed a framework agreement in October 1994 in Geneva.

    Under the agreement, the DPRK agreed to freeze its existing nuclear program in exchange for one 2,000 megawatt light-water reactor or two 1,000 megawatt light-water reactors, to be provided by the United States within 10 years.

    Pending the completion of the reactors, the United States and other countries would provide heavy fuel oil to the DPRK for energy compensation.

    To implement the accord, the U.S. led in setting up Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization which was tasked with building the light-water reactors and providing heavy fuel.

    In January 1995, 50,000 tons of heavy oil worth 45 million U.S. dollars arrived in the DPRK in January 1995. But by November 1999, the United States had provided 2.15 million tons of heavy fuel oil to the DPRK.

    Disputes flared up afterwards due to U.S. suspicion the DPRK did not do its part to honor the agreement. In 2002, the United States decided to suspend fuel oil shipments to the DPRK, arousing strong anger from the DPRK.

    In December of that year, the DPRK announced an end to its nuclear freeze, later removed the seals and monitoring cameras from the frozen nuclear facilities and expelled experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency.

    The international community has since worked hard to resolve the issue. Under the Feb. 13 agreement, the DPRK promised to shut down the Yongbyon facilities as an initial step towards denuclearization, while other parties will provide a total of 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil or equivalent aid.