IAEA too decide in Nov if S. Korea violated nuke safeguard accord
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Vienna, Sept 7, Kyodo/IRNA -- The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is highly likely to decide at a meeting in November whether South Korea violated a safeguard agreement by not notifying it of a uranium enrichment experiment in 2000, an agency official said Monday. The official, who asked not to be named, said the South Korean government was cooperative in IAEA inspections at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, where the unsanctioned experiment was conducted. The case does not constitute an emergency situation, he said. The head of the research institute admitted to Kyodo News earlier that the uranium enrichment experiment by South Korean government scientists was conducted about three times in 2000 with his approval. The IAEA Board of Governors is expected to make a decision regarding any violation after the inspection results are reported at a board meeting in November, the official said. The delegation completed inspections Saturday and returned to the agency`s headquarters in Vienna. IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei plans to submit a preliminary report to a regular board meeting to begin next Monday, but the final results will take at least two more months to complete. The official also said that if investigation results support Seoul`s explanations, further inspections would not be necessary. In such a case, the board would likely designate the unsanctioned experiment as a violation of the safeguard agreement and report it to the UN Security Council without invoking sanctions, he said. The research institute`s president, Chang In Soon, said earlier that 0.2 gram of enriched uranium was produced in the experiment to separate materials using a laser. Chang said the experiment was purely scientific and dismissed speculation it was related to nuclear weapons. /2321/1432
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