06 January 2003
Text: Compliance, Not Defiance Only Solution for North Korea, IAEA Says
(ElBaradei reports to IAEA Board of Governors) (1130)
Declaring that North Korea's actions clearly present "an unsustainable
situation" and set "a dangerous precedent," the head of the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said January 6 that
non-compliance with international non-proliferation obligations cannot
be tolerated, but he urged that the matter be resolved through
dialogue.
Speaking at an urgent meeting of the Board of Governors, IAEA Director
General Mohamed ElBaradei said that the next few weeks and months will
be important to the future of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty
(NPT) 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," ElBaradei
said. "I do hope that the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea)
will understand that it is compliance rather than defiance that will
open the way to a dialogue to address its security and other
concerns."
The international community faces a choice: "either a determined
effort to consolidate the (NPT) regime and maintain its integrity or
risk a world where a growing number of states acquire and depend on
nuclear weapons," the director general said.
Not only has North Korea failed to provide IAEA with clarifications on
reports of an alleged enrichment program, but in the last few weeks it
has "shown complete defiance towards its obligations under the
safeguards agreement by cutting all seals and impeding the functioning
of all surveillance cameras" in its nuclear facilities, ElBaradei
said. Now, he said, North Korea has a chance to reverse course and
"come into compliance" with its obligations.
Following is the text of ElBaradei's remarks:
(begin text)
Vienna, 6 January 2003
Statement by the Director General
Introductory Statement to the Board of Governors
by IAEA Director General Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei
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 U.S.-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 program, 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 cooperation 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.
(end text)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
