IAEA Board OKs North Korea Monitoring

The International Atomic Energy Agency today received approval from its Board of Governors to have inspectors monitor the planned shutdown of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, Reuters reported (see GSN, July 6).

Representatives from the 35 nations on the board approved the decision by consensus.

“The shutdown of North Korea’s nuclear facilities at Yongbyon … together with IAEA monitoring and verification, will be an important step toward achieving the common goal of a Korean Peninsula free of nuclear weapons,” said Gregory Schulte, U.S. ambassador to the agency.

Pyongyang ejected IAEA personnel in 2002 and has only allowed agency officials back into the country this year as it seemingly moves toward carrying out its February disarmament pledge.

North Korea this week could authorize the inspectors to enter the country, after it receives the first shipment of 50,000 tons of fuel oil promised by the other nations in the six-party talks.   South Korea is supplying the fuel; the tanker ship is expected to depart Thursday and arrive two days later in North Korea.

“The monitors are ready to go in.  Exactly when depends on when North Korea says the fuel oil has arrived and (their) inviting in the IAEA team,” one diplomat told Reuters.

The work of the nine inspectors is expected to include placing security cameras at the plutonium-producing Yongbyon site and sealing infrastructure, diplomats said.  They plan to remain in North Korea for roughly two weeks, and at least two inspectors would continue monitoring operations there while the six-nation negotiations resume.

An announcement from China on the date for resumption of talks could come this week, according to South Korea.

Significant challenges remain ahead in persuading Pyongyang to fully shutter its nuclear program and give up its plutonium stocks.  North Korea stands to receive another 950,000 tons of oil and equivalent aid for full nuclear disarmament (Heinrich/Strohecker, Reuters/Washington Post, July 9).

July 14 and 17 have been identified as possible dates of return for the IAEA inspectors, the Associated Press reported.  “They need to be confirmed by the North Koreans,” said one diplomat (Associated Press/USA Today, July 8).

Meanwhile, the United States is considering options for officially ending the Korean War, more than 50 years after fighting ceased, the Wall Street Journal reported today.

The two countries have never signed a peace agreement for the war that lasted from 1950 to 1953.  Instead, there has been a truce on the Korean Peninsula.

“It’s an anachronism we’re dealing with,” said a senior U.S. official.  “We need to make the place more normal.”

Talks on a peace treaty could begin this year if North Korea moves ahead with nuclear disarmament, according to Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, lead U.S. negotiator at the six-party talks.

There is also consideration of creating a permanent security body to deal with disputes in the region, the Journal reported (Jay Solomon, Wall Street Journal, July 9).

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