International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director Mohamed
ElBaradei left for North Korea Sunday. Part of his mission will be
arranging the return of inspectors to the country as outlined in
the six-party pact aiming to dismantle North
Korea's atomic bomb program.
ElBaradei said he would look at how to make the agreement a
reality and to forge closer ties between the IAEA and Pyongyang
following a four-year chill years after North Korea expelled IAEA
inspectors and rejected the international non-proliferation
treaty.
"I'd like... to discuss the broad framework of how the new
agreement will be implemented, namely the agency's monitoring and
inspection of the shutdown of the Yongbyon nuclear facility
including the reprocessing facility," ElBaradei told reporters
before leaving.
The February 13 accord revolves around a shutdown of Yongbyon by
mid-April. North Korea first announced back in 2005 that it
possessed nuclear arms and carried out its first nuclear test in
2006, prompting the UN into imposing financial and arms
sanctions.
Diplomats stated that ElBaradei would likely not finalize
precise details of a new round of inspections during his stopovers
in Beijing surrounding his March 13-14 stay in Pyongyang.
"This is the initial meeting after years of absence with a very
unpredictable state after years," said a developing-nation
ambassador accredited to the IAEA who spoke on condition of
anonymity.
ElBaradei himself was cautious, depicting his trip as the
beginning of a long journey, saying: "I hope we can move forward
but again I should caution that this is the first step in a long
process it will have to be an incremental process."
A senior European diplomat commented Pyongyang's invitation to
ElBaradei did not enter into the details of any discussions to be
had.
Mark Fitzpatrick, an analyst at London's International Institute
for Strategic Studies, also outlined that despite the willingness
of all involved to meet the minimum requirements of the February
accord's 60-day deadline, many potential pitfalls still
remained.
(China Daily via agenices March 12, 2007)
