North Korea Quits Nuclear Agency, Expels Inspectors

North Korea escalated its confrontation with the West over its alleged nuclear weapons program Monday, saying it is withdrawing from the International Atomic Energy Agency and expelling the agency’s weapons inspectors from its territory.

It also renewed threats--this time in a formal statement by its Foreign Ministry--to go to war against South Korea and its allies if the United Nations imposes punitive sanctions, as the United States is urging it to do.

Although Pyongyang technically remains a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, its withdrawal from the international agency marks a further act of defiance against the United States and its allies and is likely to intensify sentiment for U.N. sanctions.

But at the same time, Western analysts expressed apprehension that North Korea’s decision might enable Pyongyang to develop a nuclear weapons program without fear of serious monitoring by the West.

President Clinton is expected to approve a draft resolution today or Wednesday calling for the gradual phasing in of economic and political restrictions. The step-by-step sanctions would be designed to give Pyongyang time to comply with inspections before a full-scale embargo takes effect.

Madeleine Albright, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Monday that she hopes to begin outlining details of the plan almost immediately to members of the U.N. Security Council. Officials said that final Security Council action could come by the month’s end.

But officials here said Monday’s developments could delay final approval of the U.S. proposal, at least until Administration policy-makers can review the situation and decide how to respond.

North Korea’s withdrawal from the 120-country agency ostensibly is in retaliation for the IAEA decision Friday to withhold $250,000 in technical aid to Pyongyang as a result of its refusal to allow inspectors to take samplings of spent fuel rods from a nuclear reactor.

“We will immediately withdraw from the IAEA,” the country’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. It said that international inspectors “now will have nothing to do any further in our country.”

U.S. reaction to the North Korean announcement was muted--partly because, except for the statement carried by the news agency, Pyongyang still has not formally notified the United Nations or the Vienna-based atomic energy agency of its decision. The agency had already closed for the day.

But officials said Pyongyang’s move would dash allied hopes that North Korea’s nuclear program could be monitored satisfactorily. Pyongyang already has destroyed virtually all past evidence that could point to any manufacture of nuclear weapons.

Robert L. Gallucci, assistant secretary of state for political affairs, said Monday that a North Korean withdrawal--and expulsion of agency weapons inspectors--would be “a very, very serious development for the worse.”

*

Pyongyang’s statement Monday was accompanied by a renewed warning from the Foreign Ministry that any imposition of U.N. sanctions would be “regarded immediately as a declaration of war.”

There was no indication how soon, if at all, North Korea might also withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Pyongyang withdrew from the treaty briefly last year but “suspended” its decision under pressure from the United States.

Analysts are divided over the implications of such a move. While some argue that the West would no longer have a legal basis for imposing sanctions against Pyongyang, U.S. officials said that the United Nations still could act to preserve “international peace and security.”

Officials cautioned that the Administration’s draft sanctions resolution still has not won full approval from U.S. allies. For example, although Tokyo has agreed to block North Koreans in Japan from sending money home, key details are still undecided.

One version of the resolution would allow Japan to postpone any restrictions on sending money to North Korea until the later phases of the sanctions plan. In another, Japan would block such remittances immediately but only if they exceed a specific amount.

The White House declined to provide further details on the sanctions, which it has described as relatively mild in initial stages, intensifying to a full-scale embargo.

Meanwhile, South Korean newspapers quoted officials there as saying the United States is considering “doubling” the combat capability of U.S. forces in the country and bringing in more Patriot air defense batteries. The Pentagon declined to comment. But Defense Department officials said they are continuing to bolster U.S. forces in South Korea gradually.

Clinton also called Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin on Monday, partly to talk about North Korea.

White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers said Clinton also had hoped to call Chinese President Jiang Zemin but was unable to do so because of what the White House called scheduling problems. Others said that Jiang preferred not to conduct diplomacy by telephone.

Both countries are important to passage of a sanctions resolution because, as permanent members of the Security Council, they have the power to veto any such measure.

Separately, former President Jimmy Carter arrived in Seoul on Monday on the first stop of a trip to South and North Korea. Although he is technically traveling as a private citizen, he has been briefed by the White House on U.S. policy.