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North Korea says UN atomic watchdog applying double standards
Seoul, Feb 08: North Korea has accused the UN atomic watchdog of applying double standards in dealing with nuclear issues, citing reports that plutonium capable of making 25 bombs was missing in Japan.
Seoul, Feb 08: North Korea has accused the UN atomic watchdog of applying double standards in dealing with nuclear issues, citing reports that plutonium capable of making 25 bombs was missing in Japan.
North Korea's general department of atomic energy said yesterday that the "double standards and partial attitude" of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as well as a US hostile policy toward the north were escalating its stand-off with the United States.
"The double standards applied by the US and the IAEA in dealing with the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula and the nuclear issue of Japan only make the settlement of the issues more difficult," it said in a statement. A total of 206 kilogrammes of plutonium was unaccounted for at the nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in Tokaimura, some 100 kilometres north of Tokyo, which has been operating since 1977.
The deficit is mostly due to measuring shortcomings and miscalculations, a Japanese education and science ministry official said. The ministry denied the possibility that any plutonium had been illegally removed from the facility.
But North Korea discounted the explanation, noting the "supplementary protocol to follow up the safeguards agreement" which calls for reinforcing the inspection regulations of the past has been in force in Japan since December 1999.
The missing plutonium was reminiscent of "abnormal" incidents in which 70 kilogrammes of plutonium which had not been reported to the IAEA was discovered at the same nuclear facility in 1994, the North's Atomic Energy Department said in a statement. Bureau Report
"The double standards applied by the US and the IAEA in dealing with the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula and the nuclear issue of Japan only make the settlement of the issues more difficult," it said in a statement. A total of 206 kilogrammes of plutonium was unaccounted for at the nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in Tokaimura, some 100 kilometres north of Tokyo, which has been operating since 1977.
The deficit is mostly due to measuring shortcomings and miscalculations, a Japanese education and science ministry official said. The ministry denied the possibility that any plutonium had been illegally removed from the facility.
But North Korea discounted the explanation, noting the "supplementary protocol to follow up the safeguards agreement" which calls for reinforcing the inspection regulations of the past has been in force in Japan since December 1999.
The missing plutonium was reminiscent of "abnormal" incidents in which 70 kilogrammes of plutonium which had not been reported to the IAEA was discovered at the same nuclear facility in 1994, the North's Atomic Energy Department said in a statement. Bureau Report