Nuclear disablement back on in North Korea
UPDATED North Korean nuclear cooperation was suddenly reinstated at the weekend, two days after the process had apparently ground to a halt. The breakthrough came with major moves from both the USA and North Korea and saw inspectors return within a day.
North Korean nuclear cooperation was suddenly reinstated at the weekend, two days after the process had apparently ground to a halt. A day later, IAEA officials were back at Yongbyon.
Major moves were made by both main protagonists on 11 October: The USA removed North Korea from its list of countries considered to sponsor terrorism, and North Korea agreed to a reliable verification protocol for its nuclear disarmament.
It was these two sticking points that lay behind the escalation of tensions that last week came to a head with a North Korean statement that it would no longer allow International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors into any of its nuclear facilities.
US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice signed off the reclassification of North Korea, a State Department spokesman said, following that with the message that North Korea had said it would resume disablement of its nuclear facilities.
The American side detailed the verification protocol it had negotiated, mainly during a special mission at the start of October. It said that all of the Six Parties (China, Japan, North Korea, Russia, South Korea and the USA) could participate in verifying that North Korean military nuclear equipment and sites had been put beyond use, and that the IAEA would have a role in consultation and support.
Scientific procedures had been agreed, including sampling and forensic activities, and the protocol would apply to plutonium-based programs as well as uranium enrichment programs and "proliferation activities." North Korea is suspected of aiding other countries that have sought to develop nuclear weapons.
The protocol would be applied to verification work to take place "in the near future," while over 18,000 pages of documents have already been reviewed following North Korea's June information submission to the Six Parties, the USA said.
Back at Yongbyon
On 13 October the IAEA announced that its experts had been allowed back into the production reactor, the fuel fabrication plant and the reprocessing facility at Yongbyon. The agency said that 14 October would see the restart of core discharge - the removal of fuel from the reactor - monitored by the inspectors. IAEA seals and surveillance equipment will be put back in place at the reprocessing plant.
If the IAEA's role in the new verification protocol would go beyond current ad-hoc arrangements with North Korea, this would have to be authorised by the agency's board, it noted.
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