North Korea bars nuclear inspectors from Yongbyon: watchdog

Photo: AFP

Wednesday September 24, 7:07 PM

VIENNA (AFP) - North Korea has kicked out inspectors at its reprocessing plant in Yongbyon and plans to reintroduce nuclear material there, the UN atomic watchdog said Wednesday, adding its surveillance equipment had also been removed.

In a sign that the country was increasingly taking a tough line toward six-party nuclear disarmament talks, the hard-line communist state had asked the IAEA on Monday to remove seals and cameras from the Yongbyon reprocessing plant, the most sensitive part of the nuclear facility there.

Updating the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-member board of governors here, deputy director general Olli Heinonen said that the process had now been completed.



The removal of seals and cameras "was completed today," spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told reporters.

"There are no more IAEA seals and surveillance equipment in place at the reprocessing facility."

IAEA inspectors themselves removed around 100 seals and 20-25 cameras, diplomats close to the agency told AFP.

The work had started on Tuesday and was completed on Wednesday, the diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The reprocessing plant is the most sensitive part of the Yongbyon nuclear facility. But seals and cameras were still in place at other parts of the site, the diplomats said.

North Korea "has also informed the IAEA inspectors that they plan to introduce nuclear material to the reprocessing plant in one week's time" and that inspectors would be barred from the plant, spokeswoman Fleming said.

Diplomats specified that the inspectors were only being denied access to the reprocessing plant, but three inspectors remained in Yongbyon.

The latest development comes just days after North Korea confirmed it was working to restart the Yongbyon reactor and no longer wanted US concessions promised under the landmark agreement in return for its denuclearisation.

The six-nation aid-for-disarmament deal is deadlocked by a dispute over verification of the declaration of North Korea's nuclear programme, which it delivered in June as part of the agreement.

The hardline communist state, which tested an atomic weapon in October 2006, began disabling its ageing reactor and other plants at Yongbyon last November under the six-country pact with South Korea, the United States, Japan, China and Russia.

But it announced last month it had halted work in protest at Washington's refusal to drop it from the US blacklist of countries supporting terrorism, as promised under the deal.

Washington says North Korea must first accept strict outside verification of the nuclear inventory that Pyongyang handed over in June.

In South Korea, Seoul expressed its deep concern at the latest developments. "The government is very concerned about North Korea's continued move to restore nuclear facilities in Yongbyon," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

"The government urges North Korea to resume work on disablement at an early date and actively cooperate for an agreement on the verification protocol.

"The government is paying keen attention to the situation and is in close cooperation with other countries involved in six-party negotiations".

The United States was similarly concerned.

"North Korean moves to halt and reverse disablement and, most recently, remove IAEA seals and cameras from the reprocessing facility, are unsettling," said US envoy Gregory Schulte.