NORTH KOREA: The United Nations nuclear watchdog insisted yesterday that North Korea had "only a matter of weeks" to readmit inspectors expelled last week.
"We have . . . made it very clear to North Korea that it is not an open-ended invitation. It's only a matter of weeks," Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told CNN in a broadcast monitored in London.
"If they do not come into compliance, we will have to go to the [UN\] Security Council and the Security Council will take it from there," he said.
"We are only talking about weeks because I am supposed to report to our member states as a matter of urgency. I interpret urgency to mean weeks at the most," he said.
ElBaradei said he thought it "implausible" that North Korea had actually acquired any plutonium since it cracked open UN seals and disabled surveillance cameras at its Yongbyon nuclear facilities in December, but said compliance was still urgent.
"We know that some of these facilities can produce plutonium that could be used in nuclear weapons and therefore there is a sense of urgency that we come to grips with that problem before the situation gets worse," ElBaradei said.
He said the IAEA inspectors expelled by North Korea late in December had given the nuclear watchdog a pretty clear picture on the state of affairs in North Korea.
"We have been talking to them and we have a pretty good idea what was going on at the time when they left," he said.
ElBaradei reiterated his demand for North Korea to come back into line with international rules on its nuclear programmes.
"I think the message that was sent to them yesterday was very clear; compliance and not defiance is the way to move forward."
The IAEA on Monday gave Pyongyang a last chance to readmit inspectors expelled last week.
Meeting in Vienna, the governing board of the (IAEA) passed a resolution warning North Korea to co-operate with its inspectors or be reported to the UN Security Council for breaching nuclear safeguards.
North Korea has yet to respond to the IAEA ultimatum.
"The government hopes North Korea will not miss the cherished opportunity for a diplomatic and peaceful solution to its nuclear problems," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
"North Korea should respect the IAEA's resolution and take the responsibility and do its duty as a member of the Non-Proliferation Treaty by implementing it right away." Japan's Kyodo news agency reported yesterday that a document distributed to the 35 member countries of the IAEA said there was a strong possibility that North Korea had acquired a small amount of plutonium since it removed seals from the reactor last month.
The UN nuclear watchdog said in the document that the amount of nuclear material was too small to produce a nuclear bomb, but was enough to produce a so-called "dirty bomb" which could scatter radioactive material when detonated, Kyodo said. - (Reuters)