Seoul downplays IAEA stance on `nuclear N.K.`

Seoul yesterday downplayed recent comments from the chief of a top nuclear monitoring organization appearing to acknowledge North Korea`s nuclear weapons programs.

"The remarks from Mohamed ElBaradei seem to have been simply a warning for the international community to keep in mind North Korea`s nuclear abilities and deal with this reality," said a high-ranking Foreign Ministry official on the condition of anonymity.

He added, however, that the latest comments did seem to be "over the top," which was the reason why some may be concerned.

South Korea, along with the United States and Japan, are in agreement that they would not acknowledge the North as a nuclear state as their basic strategy toward Pyongyang`s nuclear ambitions.

"This is because such a stance gives the North less leverage. Therefore although technically, these nations do realize that the North has nuclear capabilities, as a policy they do not officially recognize the North as a nuclear state," said Kim Tae-woo, vice president of the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses.

From this aspect, he suggested that ElBaradei`s comments may have been inappropriate.

On Monday, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency reportedly said that "North Korea has nuclear weapons, which is a matter of fact," on the sidelines of a ministerial meeting on nuclear energy in Beijing.

But he did not indicate that North Korea is one of the five nuclear states -- the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia and China -- officially recognized by the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.

He also said he does not "like to accept any country as a nuclear weapons state," but that "we have to face reality."

The director general stressed that dialogue must be resumed with North Korea, as the six-party talks aimed at denuclearizing Pyongyang remain in deadlock.

He warned that the North could restart the facilities within months, a move that observers believe would allow the communist state to start producing weapons-grade plutonium.

Pyongyang, to condemn a United Nations Security Council presidential statement denouncing its April rocket launch, has expelled the IAEA inspectors and announced that it would restart its frozen nuclear facilities.

Progress in disabling North Korea has been stalled since December last year after the North failed to reach an accord with the United States over a nuclear verification protocol.

The communist state has since then been engaging in a series of brinkmanship policies, mostly aimed toward Seoul and Washington in apparent aim to get the upper hand with the Barack Obama administration, experts said.

In its latest act of defiance against the U.N. action, Pyongyang said it would ramp up its nuclear deterrent. The United States, despite its nuclear policy toward the North, has lately signaled a possible shift with high-ranking government and military officials calling Pyongyang a "nuclear state."

Critics have warned that such recognition would tip the scales in Pyongyang`s favor as it seeks to become an internationally acknowledged nuclear power.

By Kim Ji-hyun



(jemmie@heraldm.com)