U.N. NUCLEAR MONITOR IS INVITED TO NORTH KOREA

In a fresh sign of easing tensions, North Korean officials Friday invited the chief of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency to visit Pyongyang next month to develop plans aimed at dismantling the nation’s nuclear weapons program, officials said here.

Mohamed ElBaradei, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said he hoped to discuss the “shutdown and eventual abandonment” of the plutonium-producing reactor facility at Yongbyon, ending its ability to produce fuel for additional nuclear weapons.

North Korea, which tested its first nuclear device in October, pledged last week to stop, seal and ultimately disable operations at Yongbyon. It also agreed to let IAEA inspectors return to examine its bombs, nuclear fuel stores and other facilities. Inspectors were ordered out in December 2002, just before the reclusive regime withdrew from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

Pyongyang did not promise to relinquish its current arsenal, believed to be up to six bombs or the fissionable material to make them, but agreed to further negotiations.

“I see this as a step toward the denuclearization of the North Korean peninsula,” ElBaradei told reporters in a joint briefing with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who is visiting Vienna. A spokeswoman said ElBaradei probably would visit in the second week of March.

The White House, which is eager to see North Korea disarm, applauded the invitation as a sign of progress. “It’s a positive sign,” said White House spokesman Tony Fratto. “It shows that we’re beginning to execute the terms of the agreement.”

The breakthrough came a day after ElBaradei reported that Iran had defied a U.N. Security Council order to suspend its nuclear program. The report said Iran instead has steadily expanded low-grade enrichment of uranium, installed further equipment used for enrichment, and continued construction of related facilities. The report cites numerous cases in which Tehran ignored IAEA requests for additional access or information.

In an interview Friday, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran’s representative to the IAEA, argued that the report supports Iran because, he said, IAEA experts “found no evidence” of diverted nuclear material that could be used for weapons. “It is a clean bill of health,” he said.

The report, however, states that the IAEA “is unable to verify the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities” unless Tehran provides additional cooperation to solve a series of outstanding concerns.

Inspectors are restricted in their travel and may visit only sites that Iran has formally declared.

Soltanieh said the IAEA report disproves allegations in Washington that Iran is secretly planning to use a civilian nuclear fuel program to build nuclear arms.

“All these allegations have been proved by Mr. ElBaradei to be baseless,” he said. “The report proves that all activities of Iran are for peaceful purposes.”

Soltanieh repeated Iran’s offer to start negotiations if Washington and its allies drop U.N. sanctions and their demands for an immediate freeze of nuclear activities as a precondition to talks. “We are a great nation and preconditions are a humiliation,” he said.

Bush administration officials will meet other Security Council members Monday in London to draft further sanctions proposals.

The talks are expected to focus on European export guarantees that help prop up Iran’s economy.

Ban, the new U.N. chief, urged Iran to follow North Korea’s example and return to talks with the international community.

“I very much hope that the Iranian authorities learn from the case of the North Korean nuclear example,” he said. “It should emphasize the better future of the nuclear issue through dialogue.”

North Korea agreed Feb. 13 to freeze production of plutonium at its five-megawatt facility at Yongbyon and to allow inspectors to monitor and verify its compliance. In return, the United States, China, South Korea and Russia agreed to provide about $400 million in food and fuel aid, plus security guarantees.

The United States also agreed to start the process of removing North Korea’s designation as a state that sponsors terrorism, and to discuss terms for normalizing relations and ending economic sanctions.

The pact defers several more difficult issues, including denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. Some of President Bush’s supporters have sharply criticized the arrangement, saying the White House rewarded Kim Jong-Il’s government for testing a bomb.

Vice President Dick Cheney, speaking earlier Friday in Sydney, Australia, called the deal a “first hopeful step” but appeared to question North Korea’s commitment to follow through.

“We go into this deal with our eyes open,” he said, according to the Associated Press. “In light of North Korea’s missile test last July, its nuclear test in October and its record of proliferation and human rights abuses, the regime in Pyongyang has much to prove.”

bob.drogin@latimes.com

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Timeline

October 1994: U.S. and North Korea sign pact intended to freeze North Korea’s nuclear program in exchange for fuel and help building light-water nuclear reactors for power.

October 2002: U.S. officials say North Korea acknowledges existence of a nuclear program in violation of the 1994 pact.

December 2002: North Korea orders inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, to leave the country and restarts its main reactor at Yongbyon.

January 2003: North Korea says it is withdrawing from the global nuclear arms control treaty.

May 2005: North Korea reports it has removed fuel rods from its main nuclear reactor, a key step toward preparing to harvest plutonium for bombs.

July 2006: North Korea conducts missile tests.

Oct. 9: North Korea reports underground nuclear test.

Feb. 8, 2007: The latest talks begin between negotiators from North and South Korea, the United States, Russia, Japan and China, and a draft plan to have North Korea shut down its Yongbyon nuclear plant is agreed upon.

Feb. 13: Negotiators reach a tentative agreement on initial steps for North Korea’s nuclear disarmament.

Friday: North Korea invites the head of the IAEA to visit Pyongyang in March to help develop plans to dismantle its nuclear weapons program.

Source: Los Angeles Times