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North Korea: IAEA To Be Allowed New Access North Korea has agreed to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect an isotope production laboratory, officials said yesterday. North Korea’s permission to inspect the facility is a sign of progress for the IAEA effort to place safety measures on North Korea’s nuclear program, South Korean officials said. “As the research facilities have not yet been the target of the IAEA’s nuclear inspections, the North’s recent move draws particular attention,” said a South Korean official. IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei applauded North Korea for attending three seminars on nuclear safety as well as allowing the inspections and added that the move was a step toward normalizing relations between the IAEA and North Korea (Shim Jae-yun, Korea Times, Dec. 3). KEDO Head Arrives in Pyongyang Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) Executive Director Charles Kartman arrived Saturday in Pyongyang to discuss the organization’s project to build light-water nuclear reactors, South Korean officials said. Kartman’s four-day trip will also include a visit to the planned reactor construction site at Sinpo (Korea Herald, Dec. 3). KEDO is funding a $4.6 billion plan to replace North Korea’s old nuclear reactors. New light-water reactors were scheduled to be built by 2003, but delays have pushed the final date to 2008, according to Agence France-Presse. The construction of the new reactors might face further delay if North Korea does not allow inspectors to verify safety procedures, U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Friday. “This has to be done before they get to a certain stage in construction otherwise it can’t proceed,” Boucher said. “In order to do that on time, the schedule means that they have to start now” (Agence France-Presse/Korea Herald, Dec. 3).
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