North Korea opposes verification of nuke facilities.

North Korea should return to the negotiating table, agree to a verification protocol for its nuclear declaration and achieve its goal of getting off the US list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Nuclear envoys from South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia met in Beijing on September 5 and 6. But the prospects for the six-party talks aimed at denuclearising North Korea were set back by more evidence of a possible reversal of disabling activities at Yongbyon nuclear facility.

On Saturday, US officials were quoted as saying that North Koreans had begun removing International Atomic Energy Agency seals from parts of the nuclear facilities that had been removed. As expected, North Korea’s envoy to the talks was not in Beijing.

The latest hurdle on the path to North Korean denuclearisation concerns how the declaration of its nuclear programme, which was submitted in June, should be verified. The declaration, which was six-months late in coming, did not include details of the suspected uranium enrichment programme and nuclear proliferation activities. However, it is thought that those allegations could be investigated through a rigorous verification mechanism.

The US has proposed a verification protocol based on international standards. The proposed verification mechanism is said to include sampling of materials and inspections on short notice at all nuclear facilities. While the other four countries support the proposal, North Korea has been vehemently opposed.

It says that it will not allow ‘house-to-house’ searches that infringe on its sovereignty. A pro-North Korean newspaper published in Japan said that Pyongyang would never accept the protocol proposed by the US. It pointed out that while the US wants to follow international standards, North Korea is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) or a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Such recent developments are a case of deja vu. North Korea announced that it would withdraw from the NPT in 1993, objecting to the IAEA’s call for special inspections. It was only after negotiations with the US that North Korea suspended its demand for NPT withdrawal, a day before its implementation. The episode ended with the signing of the Agreed Framework between the US and North Korea in October 1994. The agreement stipulated the freezing and replacing of North Korea’s nuclear power programme with light water reactors, and a step-by-step normalisation of relations between the US and North Korea.

However, that agreement broke down in 2002, when the US, claiming that North Korean officials had admitted to having a highly enriched uranium programme, suspended heavy oil shipments. Pyongyang responded by reopening its nuclear facilities and expelling IAEA monitors. North Korea announced its withdrawal from the NPT on January 2003. The current six-party process was initiated in 2003 in another effort to end North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme.

Previous agreements on North Korea’s nuclear programme have got stuck on North Korea’s refusal to accept nuclear inspections. Pyongyang should not waste this opportunity to rejoin the international community by refusing the proposed verification protocol.

The six-party process may yet overcome the current debacle. Despite North Korea’s recent actions, it is in almost daily talks with the US regarding verification. The disabling process at the Yongbyon facility cannot be reversed in a matter of months, and there is no need to panic over the current impasse.

However, Pyongyang should act quickly before time runs out on the Bush administration, which is eager to conclude the North Korean denuclearisation process before its term comes to an end. (The Korea Herald/ AsiaNews)