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Disarmament DocumentationBack to Disarmament Documentation IAEA Resolution on North Korea, January 6Note: the resolution was adopted by the 35-member Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at its Headquarters in Vienna on January 6. The members of the Board for 2002/2003 are: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Iran, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Panama, Philippines, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Sudan, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States.
I. Resolution'IAEA Board of Governors Adopts Resolution on Safeguards in North Korea', IAEA Press Release, 2003/04, January 6. The Board of Governors, a. Recalling its resolutions GOV/2636, GOV/2639, GOV/2645, GOV/2692, GOV/2711 and GOV/2742, and General Conference resolutions GC(XXXVII)RES/624, GC(XXXVIII)RES/16, GC(39)/RES/3, GC(40)/RES/4, GC(41)/RES/22, GC(42)/RES/2, GC(43)/RES/3, GC(44)/RES/26, GC(45)RES/16, and GC(46) RES/14, b. Recalling also its resolution GOV/2002/60 of 29 November 2002, and noting that there has been no positive response by the DPRK to that resolution or to the efforts of the Director General pursuant to it, c. Noting that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is a party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and reaffirming that the IAEA-DPRK safeguards agreement (INFCIRC/403) under the NPT remains binding and in force, and that both the IAEA and DPRK have an obligation to co-operate to facilitate the implementation of the safeguards provided for in that agreement; d. Noting with grave concern the report of the Director General on the Implementation of Safeguards in the DPRK (GOV/2002/62), particularly the statement that the Agency is at present unable to verify that there has been no diversion of nuclear material in the DPRK, and e. Having considered the report of the Director General at its meeting of 6 January 2003, 1. Takes note of the Director General's report and expresses support for the efforts of the Director General and the Secretariat to implement safeguards in the DPRK in accordance with the safeguards agreement; 2. Reiterates its previous calls to the DPRK to comply promptly and fully with its safeguards agreement, which remains binding and in force; 3. Stresses its desire for a peaceful resolution of this issue, including its support for efforts to promote through diplomatic means the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula; 4. Deplores in the strongest terms the DPRK's unilateral acts to remove and impede the functioning of containment and surveillance equipment at its nuclear facilities and the nuclear material contained therein, including the expulsion of IAEA inspectors, which renders the Agency unable to verify, pursuant to its safeguards agreement with the DPRK, that there has been no diversion of nuclear material in the DPRK; 5. Considers that the DPRK's actions are of great non-proliferation concern and make the Agency unable at present to verify that all nuclear material in the DPRK is declared and submitted to Agency safeguards; 6. Calls upon the DPRK to co-operate urgently and fully with the Agency: i. by allowing the re-establishment of the required containment and surveillance measures at its nuclear facilities and the full implementation of all the required safeguards measures at all times including the return of IAEA inspectors; ii. by complying with the Board's resolution of 29 November 2002 (GOV/2002/60) and the Secretariat's letters seeking clarification of its reported uranium enrichment programme, as well as by giving up any nuclear weapons programme expeditiously and in a verifiable manner; iii. by enabling the Agency to verify that all nuclear material in the DPRK is declared and is subject to safeguards; and iv. by meeting immediately, as a first step, with IAEA officials; 7. Affirms that unless the DPRK takes all necessary steps to allow the Agency to implement all the required safeguards measures, the DPRK will be in further non-compliance with its safeguards agreement; 8. Requests the Director General to transmit the Board's resolution to the DPRK, to continue to pursue urgently all efforts with the aim of DPRK coming into full compliance with its safeguards obligations, and to report again to the Board of Governors as a matter of urgency; and 9. Decides to remain seized of the matter. II. 'Chronic Non-Compliance': Opening Statement by IAEA Director General'Introductory Statement to the Board of Governors by IAEA Director General Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, Vienna, 6 January 2003'; IAEA website, http://www.iaea.org. I have requested this meeting of the Board to consider recent events relevant to the compliance by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) with its safeguards agreement pursuant to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). As you are fully aware, the DPRK has been in chronic non-compliance with its safeguards agreement since 1993 when the Agency was unable to verify that the DPRK had declared to the Agency all nuclear material, specifically plutonium, that is subject to safeguards. And since 1994 the DPRK has sought shelter behind the US-DPRK "Agreed Framework" - a bilateral framework that does not replace or modify DPRK's obligations under its NPT safeguards agreement - claiming a legally untenable "unique status" under the NPT whereby its safeguards agreement is "suspended", thus circumventing compliance with its non-proliferation obligations. This claim by the DPRK has been rejected by the Board of Governors and the General Conference, which unequivocally declared the safeguards agreement to be binding and in force. The latest events further aggravate the situation. Not only did the DPRK fail to respond to the repeated requests of the Secretariat and the Board for clarification of recent reports concerning an alleged undeclared enrichment programme, but in the last few weeks has shown complete defiance towards its obligations under the safeguards agreement by cutting all seals and impeding the functioning of all surveillance cameras that were in place in its nuclear facilities. These unilateral actions culminated in a request for the immediate departure of Agency inspectors at a time when the DPRK is in the process of restarting its nuclear facilities and when the presence of inspectors is critical. All these unilateral acts by the DPRK have taken place against a backdrop of repeated requests by the Secretariat to the Government of the DPRK to work with the Agency to maintain continuity of safeguards by ensuring an orderly transition from a situation where activities in the facilities were frozen to one in which the facilities became operational. And while the Secretariat took note of the decision to restart the operation of the facilities, it also made it clear that this should only take place in full compliance with the DPRK's non-proliferation obligations to ensure that the facilities, and the nuclear material contained therein, are dedicated exclusively to peaceful purposes. As you can see from my report, the Agency is regrettably at present unable to exercise its responsibilities under the safeguards agreement, namely to verify that the DPRK is not diverting nuclear material to nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices, and is also at present unable to verify that the DPRK has declared to the Agency all the nuclear material that is subject to safeguards. This is clearly an unsustainable situation and sets a dangerous precedent, namely that non-compliance with non-proliferation obligations can be tolerated. If we aim to maintain and preserve the integrity of the non-proliferation regime then it must be incumbent on all parties to that regime to fully meet their respective obligations, and all cases of non-compliance must be consistently addressed in a uniform fashion - namely zero tolerance. In my view, the next few weeks and months will be important to the future of the non-proliferation regime. We can succeed only if all the parties to the regime understand that the settlement of disputes cannot be linked to the threat of the use of nuclear weapons or other forms of nuclear brinkmanship. I do hope that the DPRK will understand that it is compliance rather than defiance that will open the way to a dialogue to address its security and other concerns. Only through dialogue can differences be resolved or reconciled. In this connection, I am encouraged by the expressed readiness of all concerned parties to enter into such a dialogue once the DPRK has reversed course. I am also encouraged by the readiness of the Board, as reflected in the draft resolution submitted by its chairman, to afford the DPRK another opportunity to come into compliance. I hope that the DPRK will seize this opportunity and thus create the conditions for an agreed resolution of all outstanding issues. But the draft resolution also makes it clear that any lack of co-operation to implement all the required safeguards measures will constitute further non-compliance, with all the consequences foreseen under the Statute. Over the last four decades, the international community has been painstakingly building a universal regime that aims to curb the spread of nuclear weapons and simultaneously move towards nuclear disarmament. The regime has been, regrettably, subject to setbacks in the recent past. Ultimately, the choice is ours: either a determined effort to consolidate the regime and maintain its integrity or risk a world where a growing number of states acquire and depend on nuclear weapons. I trust that we will make the right choice. III. 'A Shared Challenge': Statement by US RepresentativeStatement by Ambassador Kenneth C. Brill, United States Representative to International Organisations in Vienna, to the meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors, Vienna, January 6. [S]ince our last meeting in November, the DPRK has taken a series of dangerous and deplorable unilateral actions exacerbating its violations of the NPT. By cutting seals and disabling cameras, the DPRK has become the first country unilaterally to disable IAEA containment and surveillance systems. Last week, the DPRK expelled IAEA inspectors. North Korea has thus put itself in direct defiance of the international community's clear demands that it must verifiably dismantle its nuclear weapons program. The DPRK's precipitous move toward restarting its plutonium production facilities without IAEA monitoring and its pursuit of a highly enriched uranium nuclear weapons program compound its existing violation of its NPT safeguards agreement, and thus of the NPT. As the Director General and the Secretariat have repeatedly made clear to the DPRK, the NPT and the DPRK-IAEA Safeguards Agreement remain fully in force, and it must respect them. The DPRK has ignored the Agency's explanations and flouted its Safeguards Agreement. These actions are a threat to regional and international stability. As the Board has made clear today, the DPRK's actions are unacceptable to the international community. ... [W]hen the Director General or Secretariat or other concerned member states have tried to engage the DPRK in dialogue about these nuclear issues, the invariable response from the North Korean side has been that they are bilateral issues between the DPRK and the US, and of no concern to the rest of the international community. Today's Board resolution, like our resolution of November 29, shows that this is not the case. States throughout the world supported this resolution because all of us are concerned with the compliance of each with all the NPT requirements. The DPRK has also claimed that it is restarting its facilities to meet its energy needs. This is belied by its actions. The 5 MW [megawatt] reactor produces little electricity, and as Director-General ElBaradei has noted, North Korea's reprocessing facility is irrelevant to its ability to produce electricity. North Korea has no legitimate peaceful use for plutonium, or highly enriched uranium. The DPRK's claims that it is "under threat" from the United States and consequently has a "right" to violate its Non-Proliferation Treaty obligations is also, of course, nonsense. President Bush and other senior US officials have repeatedly stressed that we intend no military action against North Korea and believe the present situation can and should be resolved peacefully through diplomatic means. The United States will be patient in those efforts, and we will work closely with other interested states to find a peaceful way forward. But we must not and we will not allow the DPRK to turn its violation of its international obligations into political or economic benefits. The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons in spite of its Non-Proliferation Treaty commitments. We call on North Korea to reverse its current course, to take all steps necessary to come into immediate compliance with its IAEA safeguards agreement, and to eliminate its nuclear weapons program, both plutonium and uranium, in a comprehensive and verifiable manner. ... [T]he United States very strongly welcomes the Board's adoption today of a resolution that expresses the unanimous view of its members- and, we believe, of the entire international community. The DPRK's actions violate its international obligations to the IAEA and constitute a severe challenge to the global nuclear non-proliferation regime. ... [T]he IAEA has played an essential and long-standing role in monitoring the DPRK's nuclear facilities. My government strongly supports and commends efforts made by the Director General and the Secretariat in regard to North Korea's recent actions, and we recognize the IAEA's central role in continuing to demand that the DPRK implement its NPT comprehensive safeguards agreement. The DPRK's nuclear weapons program is a shared challenge to all responsible nations. North Korea has been told clearly in statements from APEC, KEDO, the IAEA and by many nations that its relations with the international community hinge on its verifiable dismantlement of its plutonium and uranium nuclear weapons program. The United States attaches great importance to close cooperation with our friends and allies on this issue, at the IAEA and in other international fora. Today's resolution demands that North Korea comply with its international obligations. We will continue to consult closely with our friends and allies on next steps, but we want to be very clear that absent prompt North Korean action to comply, the IAEA has an obligation to report to the Security Council that North Korea has violated its NPT and safeguards obligations. Source: Statement by the US Delegation, IAEA Board of Governor's Meeting, US Department of State, Office of the Spokesman, January 6. © 2003 The Acronym Institute. |