North Korea Will Allow Return of Nuclear Inspectors
VOA News 20 December 2010
Former U.S. diplomat Bill Richardson says he has secured an agreement from North Korea to allow the return of U.N. nuclear inspectors whom Pyongyang expelled in 2009.
Richardson announced the agreement Monday on the fourth day of a private visit to the North Korean capital aimed at easing tensions on the Korean peninsula. He is a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who now serves as governor of the U.S. state of New Mexico.
In a statement, Richardson says North Korea will open a recently declared uranium enrichment facility at its main nuclear complex in Yongbyon to monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency. Such a move could enable the U.N. agency to determine whether North Korea is enriching uranium for a nuclear bomb.
North Korea says the enrichment facility is for peaceful purposes.
Richardson told U.S. journalists accompanying him that Pyongyang also is willing to sell 12,000 plutonium fuel rods to a third party, such as South Korea. North Korea already has a plutonium-based nuclear weapons program. Shipping the rods out of the country would mean they cannot be used to make atomic bombs.
Some analysts say it is not clear if North Korea expects any concessions from regional powers in return for the nuclear offers.
Richardson revealed the North Korean proposals on the same day that Pyongyang promised not to retaliate for a South Korean live-fire exercise on an island near the disputed maritime border of the two Koreas.
The former diplomat said he is "very encouraged" that North Korea did not retaliate. He said South Korea's military drill on Yeonpyeong island gave Seoul an opportunity to "flex its muscles" and enabled Pyongyang to react in a "statesmanlike manner."
Richardson said North Korea is ready to discuss the formation of a military commission with South Korea and the United States to prevent conflicts in disputed parts of the Yellow Sea. He said Pyongyang also is willing to set up a hotline between the North and South Korean militaries to avert potential crises.
Richardson has been in Pyongyang since Thursday. He was due to leave for Beijing Monday, but his flight was postponed due to fog.
North Korea's state-run KCNA news agency says Richardson offered a gift to North Korean Leader Kim Jong Il Monday, handing the item to the vice president of the presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, Kim Yong Dae.
The former diplomat has made at least six visits to North Korea on diplomatic initiatives, but he said he was not representing the Obama administration on this occasion.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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