The government will begin shipping heavy fuel oil to North Korea next week as Pyongyang has taken initial steps to shut down its nuclear reactor in Yongbyon in accordance with the six-party nuclear agreement of February 13th.

Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Nam-sik said that the first batch would be between five to ten thousand tons.

Kim said that the ministry submitted a funds request to the National Assembly on Monday to cover the additional cost of shipping the energy aid.

He went on to say that the parliamentary committee for inter-Korean exchanges and cooperation was reviewing the request and consulting ministries concerned.

Once the Assembly approves the additional funding, the government will sign contracts with oil refineries.

The government projects the additional cost to be about six-point-five billion won. The overall fuel cost is expected to total more than 26 billion won.