A U.S. nuclear expert team has reportedly hired North Koreans for the ongoing disablement of the North’s nuclear facilities in Yongbyon.

Diplomatic sources familiar with North Korean affairs said Friday that Washington hired North Korean technicians to expedite disablement, adding the U.S. will pay them under a labor contract.

Pyongyang is reportedly cooperating fully with the U.S. team’s operation to disable a five-megawatt nuclear reactor, a plutonium-reprocessing radiochemical laboratory and a fuel rod fabrication plant.

The U.S. team plans to complete at least one of the eleven disablement steps this week.