North Korea: IAEA Board declares Country in "Noncompliance" of Treaty by UN Wire United Nations Foundation 7:03pm 13th Feb, 2003   The International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors today adopted a resolution declaring North Korea "in noncompliance" with a safeguard agreement under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty that ensures nuclear material is not used in military programs. By a vote of 31-0 with two abstentions, the board, meeting in Vienna, asked IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei to report the decision to the U.N. Security Council and General Assembly. Russia and Cuba abstained from the vote.    The board cited the agency's "inability to verify the nondiversion of nuclear material subject to safeguards" and declared that the safeguard agreement under the treaty "remains binding." It called on North Korea "to remedy urgently its noncompliance." The governors also stressed their "desire for a peaceful resolution of the [North Korean] nuclear issue and ... support for diplomatic means to that end" (Jim Wurst, UN Wire, Feb. 12).    The North Korean nuclear crisis began in October when the United States said North Korea had acknowledged a uranium enrichment program in violation of a 1994 accord. Pyongyang has since expelled U.N. inspectors, abandoned the NPT, reopened a complex capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium and threatened to resume missile testing. ElBaradei said today before the board's decision that he had "exhausted all possibilities within my power to bring North Korea into compliance" with its international obligations.    Today's resolution would have passed with as few as 18 votes, but a Reuters source said before the vote that the agency wanted unanimity. Diplomats said at the time that only Russia was undecided (Louis Charbonneau, Reuters/Boston Globe, Feb. 12). Russia said taking the matter to the council would be "counterproductive" to diplomacy. Yesterday, Moscow announced plans for direct talks between North Korea and the United States, which has not ruled out such talks but has stressed that the problem is international, not bilateral (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo! News, Feb. 12).    The Security Council could pass economic sanctions if it finds North Korea to be noncompliant, a move North Korea said it would treat as a declaration of war (Charbonneau, Reuters/Boston Globe).    Speaking at a news conference in Vienna that was broadcast at U.N. headquarters in New York, ElBaradei said reporting to the Security Council means nothing other than using the council "as the focal point" for dealing with the issue and it "means using all the diplomatic tools available to the council." The decision "does not close the door to diplomatic solutions," he added.    ElBaradei said that as a result of the resolution, he hoped "we will see movement in the right direction" by North Korea. "Once that is accomplished, there [will be] an increasing readiness to respond positively to humanitarian and security concerns [but] none of the issues can be addressed by blackmail," he said.    North Korea has "clearly sets a dangerous precedent," he added. The drive should be to make the treaty universal "rather than open the door for countries to walk away from their nonproliferation and disarmament obligations," ElBaradei added (Wurst, UN Wire).    North Korea appealed today to the United Kingdom to persuade the United States to engage in direct talks with North Korea over the matter. Pyongyang also threatened to retaliate if attacked.    Feb 12.2003    European Union foreign policy head Javier Solana said today that an EU mission to North Korea to discuss the crisis, originally set for this week but postponed, will come "sooner rather than later" (Julian Rake, Reuters, Feb. 12).    UN Wire is a free service sponsored by the United Nations Foundation and its sister organization, the Better World Fund, which are dedicated to supporting United Nations efforts on behalf of the environment, population stabilization and children's health. UN Wire is produced independently by National Journal Group. For the latest information and updates on UN Foundation activities, visit us on the web at http://www.unfoundation.org Visit the related web page
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