A Japanese daily says a deputy director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency will visit North Korea in two weeks for follow-up talks to the six-way nuclear agreement.

The Asahi Shimbun said Sunday that the head of the watchdog's safeguards department Olli Heinonen will discuss inspecting the North's nuclear facilities and the dismantlement process with Pyongyang officials.

Heinonen had previously led inspection teams to the communist state in 1994 and 2002.

The key to the six-way agreement is North Korea's permanent shutdown of its Yongbyon reactor within 60 days and re-entry of international inspections.

The international agency's spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told Voice of America Saturday that her agency is preparing preliminary steps to monitor and verify Pyongyang's nuclear facilities, and will announce it next weekend.