Nuclear Watchdog Asked to Leave N.Korea
The International Atomic Energy Agency said Tuesday that North Korea has asked its inspectors to leave the country.
The U.S. criticized the decision and another North Korean announcement earlier in the day that it was pulling out of talks on the future of its nuclear program.
A statement on the IAEA’s Web site said: “The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) has today informed IAEA inspectors in the Yongbyon facility that it is immediately ceasing all cooperation with the IAEA. It has requested the removal of all containment and surveillance equipment, following which, IAEA inspectors will no longer be provided access to the facility.”
It added: “The inspectors have also been asked to leave the DPRK at the earliest possible time. The DPRK also informed the IAEA that it has decided to reactivate all facilities and go ahead with the reprocessing of spent fuel.”
North Korea’s foreign ministry said earlier the country will quit talks aimed at disarming its nuclear weapons and strengthen nuclear capabilities, state-run media reported Tuesday.
The statement, issued via North Korean state-run media KCNA, listed reasons that the country will pull out of the so-called six-party talks.
“Now that the six-party talks have turned into a platform for infringing upon the sovereignty of the DPRK and seeking to force the DPRK to disarm itself and bring down the system in it, the DPRK will never participate in the talks any longer, nor will it be bound to any agreement of the six-party talks,” KCNA said.
The statement also defended North Korea‘s recent launch of a rocket and blasted a U.N. Security Council declaration that condemned the launch.
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The six-party talks — involving China, Japan, North Korea, Russia, South Korea and the United States — have been aimed at persuading North Korea to scrap its nuclear program.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called North Korea’s decision to stop cooperating with the atomic energy panel “an unnecessary response to the legitimate statement put out of concern by the Security Council.”
“Obviously we hope there will be an opportunity to discuss this, not only with our partners and allies, but also, eventually, with the North Koreans,” she said.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs called North Korea’s “announced threat to withdraw from the six-party talks and restart its nuclear program … a serious step in the wrong direction.”
“North Korea will not find acceptance by the international community unless it verifiably abandons its pursuit of nuclear weapons,” he said. “The six-party talks offer North Korea the best path towards that acceptance through dialogue.
China’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement Tuesday urging all parties to “exert calmness and restraint, jointly maintain peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia, and make concerted efforts to consistently facilitate the six-party talks and denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday that despite North Korea’s statement, Russia “hopes for resuming the six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear problem soon,” according to Itar-Tass news agency…
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Posted by John Malloy
on Apr 14 2009. Filed under International.
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