N. Korea Has Begun to Restore Nuclear Facility

N. Korea Has Begun to Restore Nuclear Facility

Kim Kye-gwan North Korean nuclear negotiator

By Michael Ha
Staff Reporter

North Korea has begun reassembling its nuclear facilities in Yongbyon, according to reports from the U.S. media Saturday.

But the South Korean government said that officials are looking into these reports from overseas, adding that they have not yet been able to confirm these findings.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade stated that it is aware of these overseas news accounts concerning the alleged reassembly and the removal of safety seals placed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

According to the Associated Press and Fox News, a U.S.-based news outlet, Pyongyang has begun to put its Yongbyon nuclear facility back together, after stopping its disassembly process just days before.
This latest move is a clear violation of the terms and conditions that have been established to improve relations between North Korea and the United States, according to U.S. reports.

U.S. officials said Pyongyang may be protesting Washington’s delay in taking the North off its list of terrorism-sponsoring states.

One American official was quoted as saying that North Korea has been “threatening this move for some time” and that the reassembly of the Yongbyon facility may be seen as a way for North Korean officials “to express their anger.”

There are questions on how much of a real threat the move represents, however. Reports noted that with so much of the nuclear facility already disassembled and its cooling tower demolished, the reassembling at this stage may represent more of a “symbolic gesture” than any genuine threat.

Pyongyang had earlier announced that it had stopped the disabling process because Washington had failed to remove it from the list.

The United States, for its part, has said that it would remove the North from the list only when the communist state fully agrees to a verification procedure for its denuclearization that meets international standards.

It appears unlikely that there could be any major breakthrough agreement concerning the verification process. The Choson Sinbo, a newspaper published by an association of pro-North Korean residents in Japan, reported over the weekend that Pyongyang has no intention of agreeing to an onsite inspection by outsiders.

Kim Kye-gwan, North Korea’s chief nuclear envoy, did not show up for multinational talks in Beijing, reports said. Kim failed to attend scheduled meetings with representatives from South Korea, the United States and Japan to discuss ways for the North to return to the denuclearization path, according to the reports.

michaelha@koreatimes.co.kr