A working-level delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will head to Yongbyon on Thursday to visit the nuclear facilities of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

The four-member delegation, which arrived here on Tuesday, will go to Yongbyon for a two-day visit, an IAEA delegation member told Xinhua on condition of anonymity Wednesday.

It is the UN watchdog's first visit to the DPRK since late 2002 when the country expelled IAEA nuclear inspectors and later withdrew from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The delegation came to the country at the invitation of the DPRK government after a frozen fund dispute between the United States and the DPRK was resolve on Monday.

Under a February agreement, the DPRK pledged to shut down the Yongbyon reactor within 60 days in exchange of 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil or equivalent aid.

However, the denuclearization process was held up as the DPRK insists that its 25 million U.S. dollars frozen at the Banco Delta Asia in Macao be returned before the Yongbyon nuclear reactor is shut down and new negotiations are started.