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The United Nations nuclear watchdog agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Wednesday referred the nuclear issue of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to the UN Security Council.
The IAEA declared the DPRK in violation of UN nuclear safeguards provisions in a resolution passed later in the day at its headquarters in Vienna.
The resolution, which was also distributed here, was passed in a vote of 31 to 4 in a meeting of the 35-nation IAEA Board of Governors, according to the Office of UN Secretary-General's Spokesman.
The board passed the resolution after discussing a report by its Director General Mohammed ElBaradei on the nuclear crisis in the Korean Peninsula.
The IAEA, based on ElBaradei's report, declared that "the DPRK is in further noncompliance with its obligations under its Safeguards Agreement with the agency," the resolution said.
The IAEA expressed "deep concern that the DPRK has not undertaken to cooperate urgently and fully with the agency," and over its inability "to verify that there has been no diversion of nuclear material subject to safeguards to nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices."
The IAEA decided to report "through the director-general, the DPRK's noncompliance and the agency's inability to verify non-diversion of nuclear material subject to safeguards, to all members of the agency and to the Security Council ...," the resolution said.
The IAEA called on the DPRK to remedy urgently its noncompliance with its Safeguards Agreement by taking all steps deemed necessary by the agency.
Meanwhile, the IAEA stressed its desire for "a peaceful resolution of the DPRK nuclear issue and its support for diplomatic means to that end."
The United Nations Security Council is due to meet on Feb. 18 on the nuclear issue of the DPRK, a diplomat here confirmed Tuesday.
The DPRK announced its withdrawal from the Nonproliferation Treaty last month, but in the meantime stressed it has no intention to develop nuclear weapons. It also warned that any decision to impose sanctions on the country would be viewed as a "declaration of war."
US Welcome IAEA Decision on DPRK Nuclear Issue
The United States on Wednesday welcomed a decision made by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to take the nuclear issue of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to the United Nations Security Council.
"The IAEA board of governors' resolution is a clear indication that the international community will not accept a North Korean (DPRK's) nuclear weapons program," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said at a news briefing.
Fleischer said the IAEA's decision to refer the issue to the UN Security Council "demonstrates that this is not a bilateral issue between the United States and North Korea, but this is a dispute between North Korea and the world."
"The United States seeks a multilateral solution to this program through diplomacy," he said. "The United States plans to work closely with members of the Security Council and other friends and allies toward our shared objective of the elimination of North Korea's nuclear weapons program in a verifiable and irreversible manner," the spokesman added.
The IAEA's governing board Wednesday passed a resolution in Vienna declaring the DPRK in "non-compliance" with UN safeguards and sent the issue to the UN Security Council.
The DPRK has rejected any third party role in its dispute with Washington over its alleged nuclear programs. Washington insists that dialogues with Pyongyang be held in "a multilateral setting."
(Xinhua News Agency February 13, 2003)
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