-Caveat Lector- http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=574&n cid=721&e=1&u=/nm/20021017/wl_nm/korea_un_nuclear_dc
UN Deeply Concerned by N.Korea Nuclear Admission Thu Oct 17, 2:08 PM ET By Louis Charbonneau VIENNA, Austria (Reuters) - The United Nations' nuclear watchdog said on Thursday it was deeply concerned about North Korea's reported acknowledgment to the United States that it had a secret nuclear weapons program and wanted more information. The International Atomic Energy Agency said the assertions, if true, meant Pyongyang had been misleading the United Nations about what it had always portrayed as a peaceful atomic power program but which Washington says was intended to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons. "We are urgently seeking information from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in response to this report, as well as information from the United States that will allow us to follow up on this very serious allegation," said IAEA Director General Mohamed Elbaradei. Under Pyongyang's agreement with the Vienna-based watchdog, North Korea should have declared the existence of any nuclear facility to the IAEA and placed it under the agency's safeguards, Elbaradei said in a statement, expressing his "deep concern" about the U.S. report. Senior U.S. officials said on Wednesday that North Korea had acknowledged operating a secret nuclear weapons program in violation of a 1994 bilateral agreement under which Pyongyang had promised to freeze any nuclear arms development. "North Korea has been in non-compliance with their Safeguards Agreement for many years and we've not been able to have the cooperation we need to verify their initial declaration of nuclear material back in 1992," IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky told Reuters. U.S. officials said special envoy James Kelly had presented the North Koreans with documentation about their activities during an Oct. 3-5 visit to Pyongyang and that they had finally acknowledged a secret nuclear weapons program. Washington said the North Korean project centered on a uranium-enrichment program that had been under way for several years. Fissile highly-enriched uranium or plutonium are necessary ingredients for an atomic bomb. A NOT-SO-PEACEFUL NUCLEAR PROGRAM? Although the IAEA has been carrying out limited inspections in North Korea since the 1990s, it has never been allowed to conduct the kind of intrusive inspections under the Safeguards Agreement needed to flush out a clandestine weapons program. When the 1994 pact between the United States and North Korea was signed, the IAEA was asked to carry out full-scale inspections, including a hunt for signs of a secret weapons program. But it has not been allowed to begin this task. Although the U.S. statement came as a surprise for the IAEA, the agency hopes the revelations could lead to the commencement of intrusive inspections in North Korea. "We're ready to go there," said Gwozdecky, though he said that it would take the inspectors three to four years to verify whether North Korea's 1992 declaration was correct. Gwozdecky also said that over the last decade Pyongyang had never admitted to running a weapons program. "They declared a number of nuclear facilities and showed us less than 100 grams of plutonium they said had been extracted from damaged fuel rods," he said. "They claimed this was a peaceful program." The RAND Corporation, a U.S. security think-tank, says a country which got hold of just 11 pounds (five kg) of plutonium or 33 pounds (15 kg) of highly-enriched uranium could theoretically build a fully-fledged nuclear bomb in just a few days. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http://archive.jab.org/ctrl@;listserv.aol.com/ <A HREF="http://archive.jab.org/ctrl@;listserv.aol.com/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
