North Korea ousts UN nuclear inspectors
It tells the international weapons agency that it will restart operations as early as next week, effectively killing a denuclearization deal with the U.S.
VIENNA -- North Korea kicked out UN weapons inspectors from a plant that previously produced weapons-grade plutonium and notified the nuclear watchdog that it will restart operations as early as next week, the International Atomic Energy Agency said today.
The moves mean that the North could be reprocessing plutonium in a matter of months.
This latest provocation by North Korea kills what little hope remained that the Bush administration could complete a denuclearization deal in the president's remaining months in office. Although the regime has been warning for weeks it would restart nuclear activities, the speed and extent of its moves have been discouraging.
For at least the time being, the three nuclear inspectors will remain at the sprawling Yongbyon nuclear compound, but they will not be allowed in the most important facility: the reprocessing plant that produces the deadly heart of the nuclear bomb. At the insistence of the North Koreans, the inspectors removed seals and surveillance cameras that had been installed last year to insure the plant was mothballed.
"This work was completed today. There are no more . . . seals and surveillance equipment at the reprocessing facility," spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said in a statement at the atomic energy agency's headquarters in Vienna. She also said that the North Koreans had notified the agency that they intended to "introduce nuclear material to the reprocessing plant in one week's time."
There was no immediate comment from Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, but in recent weeks officials there have made clear they are angry the United States has not followed through on a promise to remove North Korea from a list of "terrorism-sponsoring" nations.
President Bush announced in June he would recommend the lifting of the terror-state designation as a reward for North Korea's submission of a detailed inventory of its nuclear program. But the administration has not been satisfied with the document and is asking for additional verification before making the move.
"Now that the U.S. true colors are brought to light, [North Korea] neither wishes to be delisted as a 'state sponsor of terrorism' nor expects such a thing to happen," said an unnamed North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman in a state news-agency report. "It will go its own way."
