scoone
03-08-2004, 02:06 PM
VIENNA (*******) - North Korea's nuclear activities and its withdrawal from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) have set a dangerous precedent, the head of the United Nations atomic weapons watchdog said Monday.
The United States believes the reclusive Communist state has at least one nuclear weapon, which it developed during the years when it was thought to be complying with the NPT before quitting the pact early last year.
"The nuclear activities of (North Korea) and its notice of withdrawal from the NPT have set a dangerous precedent and thus remain a threat to the credibility of the nuclear non-proliferation regime," International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed ElBaradei said in the text of a speech.
Pyongyang expelled the IAEA's inspectors on December 31, 2002, and has not let them back in the country since -- despite ElBaradei's repeated appeals for their return.
His remarks were prepared for delivery at a closed-door meeting of the IAEA's Board of Governors, which is meeting to discuss Iran's and Libya's violations of the NPT, as well as the global black market that supplied Iran, Libya and North Korea with potentially weapons-related atomic technology.
Although last month's round of six-party talks in Beijing produced no breakthrough, ElBaradei said the "agreement to continue these talks is a welcome development."
He added any agreement reached on North Korea would need to "strike a balance between the security needs of (North Korea) and the need of the international community to gain assurance, though international verification, that all (its) nuclear activities ... are exclusively for peaceful purposes."
The six-party talks included the United States, both North and South Korea, China, Japan and Russia
http://www.*******.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=4519792
The United States believes the reclusive Communist state has at least one nuclear weapon, which it developed during the years when it was thought to be complying with the NPT before quitting the pact early last year.
"The nuclear activities of (North Korea) and its notice of withdrawal from the NPT have set a dangerous precedent and thus remain a threat to the credibility of the nuclear non-proliferation regime," International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed ElBaradei said in the text of a speech.
Pyongyang expelled the IAEA's inspectors on December 31, 2002, and has not let them back in the country since -- despite ElBaradei's repeated appeals for their return.
His remarks were prepared for delivery at a closed-door meeting of the IAEA's Board of Governors, which is meeting to discuss Iran's and Libya's violations of the NPT, as well as the global black market that supplied Iran, Libya and North Korea with potentially weapons-related atomic technology.
Although last month's round of six-party talks in Beijing produced no breakthrough, ElBaradei said the "agreement to continue these talks is a welcome development."
He added any agreement reached on North Korea would need to "strike a balance between the security needs of (North Korea) and the need of the international community to gain assurance, though international verification, that all (its) nuclear activities ... are exclusively for peaceful purposes."
The six-party talks included the United States, both North and South Korea, China, Japan and Russia
http://www.*******.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=4519792