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LETTER DATED 12 OCTOBER 1998 FROM THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
ADDRESSED TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SECURITY COUNCIL

I have the honour to convey the attached communication, dated 9 October 1998, which I have received from the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (see annex).

I should be grateful if you would bring the Director General's letter to the attention of the members of the Security Council.

(Signed) Kofi A. ANNAN

Letter dated 9 October 1998 from the Director General of
the International Atomic Energy Agency addressed to the
Secretary-General

In its presidential statement of 4 November 1994 (S/PRST/1994/64) regarding the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the Security Council, inter alia, requested the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) "to continue to report to it on implementation of the Safeguards Agreement". In this regard, I enclose a copy of my written report about the DPRK dated 26 August 1998 submitted to the General Conference of IAEA at its forty-second regular session (see enclosure I) and of resolution GC(42)/Res/2 adopted by the Conference on 25 September 1998 (see enclosure II).

As you know, the DPRK continues to accept Agency activities solely within the context of the Agreed Framework between the United States of America and the DPRK and not under its Safeguards Agreement with the Agency, which is binding and remains in force.

As envisaged in my predecessor's letter of 13 October 1997, the eighth round of technical discussions between IAEA and the DPRK took place in Vienna from 21 to 24 October 1997. Subsequent rounds were held from 24 to 28 February and 24 to 26 June 1998 in Pyongyang. Unfortunately, however, no progress was made on important issues relevant to the DPRK's compliance with its Safeguards Agreement. These include the preservation of information to enable the Agency to verify, in the future, the correctness and completeness of the DPRK's initial declaration and the sampling and measurement of liquid wastes at the DPRK's reprocessing plant (the Radiochemical Laboratory) to verify that there is no movement or any operation involving the wastes.

Against this background, the Agency's Safeguards Implementation Report for 1997 recorded the continuing inability of the Agency to verify the correctness and completeness of the DPRK's initial declaration of nuclear material and therefore our inability to conclude that there has been no diversion of nuclear material.

In the light of the above information and of further details in my report to the General Conference, the Conference adopted resolution GC(42)/Res/2 in which, similarly to resolution GC(41)/Res/22 of 1997, the Conference expressed its deep concern about the continuing non-compliance of the DPRK with its Safeguards Agreement, urged the DPRK to cooperate fully with the Agency in the implementation of that agreement, and also to take all steps the Agency may deem necessary to preserve all information relevant to verifying the accuracy and completeness of the DPRK's initial report.

The most recent round of discussions in Vienna this week was also characterized by a lack of tangible progress on key issues. Further discussions have been scheduled for early 1999.

I should be grateful if you would bring the text of the present letter and its enclosures to the attention of the Security Council, to which I will continue to report developments.

(Signed) Mohamed ELBARADEI