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North Korea
Government re-equipping nuclear reactors
Article published on the 2008-09-19 Latest update 2008-09-19 15:39 TU
Le site nucléaire de Yongbyon, en Corée du Nord.
(Photo: AFP)
North Korea announced that it is restarting its nuclear programme Friday because it claims the US has broken the six-nation aid-for-disarmament deal by not removing it from the list of states that sponsor terrorism. “We are making thorough preparations to restore” nuclear facilities, Foreign Ministry official Hyon Hak-Bong said.
The Foreign Ministry then released a statement saying that North Korea no longer wants to be removed from the terror-sponsor list, although the classification prevents Pyongyang from receiving many forms of aid..
“Now that the US true colours are brought to light, the DPRK neither wishes to be delisted as a ‘state sponsor of terrorism’ nor expects such a thing to happen,” the state news agency quoted a foreign spokesperson as saying.
North Korea had been dismantling its nuclear reactors since November as part of a negotiated deal to bring western aid into the country. It announced that the work had stopped last month in protest of the US’s failure to remove the country from its terrorist sponsor list.
Washington says that Pyongyang had to accept strict independent verification that the disarmament work had been done before it would be removed from the blacklist.
Hyon told reporters in Panmunjom that these “robber-like inspection methods” led to war in Iraq, adding that the US wants “to go anywhere at any time to collect samples and carry out examinations with measuring equipment”.
Hyon claimed that North Korea had “perfectly and flawlessly” completed 90 per cent of the disablement work.
In return, negotiators had promised millions of tons of heavy oil and other energy aid, half of which has already been delivered.
The other half would be sent on schedule, Hwang Joon-Kook, the South Korean delegation chief, said.
“We also want to make sure that the six-party process does not go backward,” Hwang said.
