US urges NKorea not to restart nuclear reactor

September 20th, 2008:

WASHINGTON-The United States on Friday urged North Korea not to continue preparations to restart its nuclear reactor, saying the country must decide whether it wants to have a better relationship with the world or "keep themselves isolated."

North Korea said earlier in the day it was making "thorough preparations" to restart the Yongbyon reactor and accused the United States of failing to fulfill its obligations, adding another hurdle to already stalled international nuclear disarmament negotiations.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters that North Korea has been "getting closer and closer" to the point where it will restart the reactor but has not gotten there yet. "We would urge them not to get to that point," he said.

The North did not say when the reactor might begin operating again. The comments marked the first time the North has confirmed a reversal of steps taken since last year to disable its nuclear program. North Korea is angry over Washington's refusal to quickly remove it from a U.S. terrorism blacklist.

Asked why the North should deal with the Bush administration since it is in its final months in office, McCormack said, "I don't know who the next president, who the next secretary of state is going to be, but I would wager that they're not going to get a much different deal from the next administration as they're getting from this administration."

He also noted existing U.N. Security Council resolutions "that hold penalties for North Korea should they go down the pathway of, for example, missile testing, for example, further testing of any nuclear devices."

Under a 2007 pact, North Korea pledged to disable its nuclear program as a step toward its eventual dismantlement in exchange for diplomatic concessions and energy aid.

In late June, North Korea submitted a long-delayed declaration of its nuclear activities and destroyed the cooling tower at Yongbyon in a show of its commitment to the nuclear deal. But the accord stalled in mid-August when Washington refused to take North Korea off its list of states that sponsor terrorism. The U.S. says the North first must accept a plan to verify its nuclear declaration.

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Map of North Korea's nuclear plant in Yongbyon. North Korea says it is working to restart its atomic reactor and no longer wants US concessions promised under the pact. North Korea has accused Washington of breaking a nuclear disarmament deal. (AFP/Gil).

TV footage shows the public demolition of North Korea's cooling tower at its Yongbyon nuclear complex in June 2008. North Korea says it is working to restart its atomic reactor and no longer wants US concessions promised under the pact. North Korea has accused Washington of breaking a nuclear disarmament deal. (AFP/CCTV/File)

North Korea is preparing to restart its Yongbyon nuclear reactor amid a deadlock in international disarmament talks, according to NKorea's Deputy Director-General for Ministry of Foreign Affairs Hyon Hak-bong (seen here in 2007). (AFP/Pool/File/Han Jae-Ho)

North Korea's Deputy Director-General for Ministry of Foreign Affairs Hyun Hak Bong, second from left, is escorted by South Korean officials, left and right, as he crosses the border line to attend meeting to work out details on further energy assistance to North Korea under a six-nation nuclear deal, at the border village of the Panmunjom, South Korea, Friday, Sept. 19, 2008. Hyun said North Korea is undertaking 'thorough preparations' to restart its nuclear reactor in Yongbyon. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon. Pool)

September 19th, 2008:

By HYUNG-JIN KIM, Associated Press Writer PANMUNJOM, Korea - North Korea said Friday it is making "thorough preparations" to restart its nuclear reactor, accusing the United States of failing to fulfill its obligations under an international disarmament-for-aid agreement.

It is the first time the communist nation has confirmed a reversal of steps taken since last year to disable its nuclear program because of Washington's refusal to quickly remove it from a U.S. terrorism blacklist.

"We are making thorough preparations for restoration" of the Yongbyon nuclear complex, the deputy director-general of North Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hyun Hak Bong, told reporters. He did not say when Yongbyon might begin operating again.

Hyun spoke in the border village of Panmunjom before talks Friday with South Korean officials on sending energy aid to the North as part of the six-nation disarmament deal. The talks concluded late Friday afternoon.

Under the landmark 2007 pact - involving the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan - North Korea pledged to disable its nuclear program as a step toward its eventual dismantlement in exchange for diplomatic concessions and energy aid equivalent to 1 million tons of oil.

North Korea began disabling the Yongbyon complex last year, and the process was 90 percent complete, with eight of 11 key steps carried out "perfectly and flawlessly," Hyun said.

In late June, North Korea submitted a long-delayed declaration of its nuclear activities and destroyed the cooling tower at Yongbyon in a show of its commitment to denuclearization.

But the accord ran aground in mid-August when Washington refused to take North Korea off its list of states that sponsor terrorism, saying the North first must accept a plan to verify its nuclear declaration.

North Korea responded by halting the disabling process and is now "proceeding with work to restore (Yongbyon) to its original status," Hyun said.

The Foreign Ministry later issued a statement saying it no longer wanted to be taken off the U.S. terrorism list.

"Now that the United States' true colors have been brought to light, (North Korea) no longer wishes to be delisted as a 'state sponsor of terrorism' - and does not expect such a thing to happen," said the statement, carried by the country's official news agency, KCNA.

North Korea "will go its own way," it said.

Hyun warned Washington not to press the verification issue, saying verification was never part of the disarmament deal.

"The U.S. is insisting that we accept unilateral demands that had not been agreed upon. They want to go anywhere at any time to collect samples and carry out examinations with measuring equipment," he said. "That means they intend to force an inspection."

He said forcing North Korea to comply with such an inspection would exacerbate tensions.

The White House had no immediate reaction early Friday.

South Korean and U.S. officials say it would take at least a year for North Korea to restart the reactor if it is completely disabled.

South Korean officials urged the North during the talks at the border to resume disabling its nuclear facilities, saying energy aid is linked to that process, according to a South Korean official who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government policy.

Friday's talks - proposed by the North - indicate it does not want to completely scuttle the six-party negotiations, analysts said.

"The North is sending a message that it wants to maintain the six-party talks," said Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert at Seoul's Dongguk University. "The North also wants to get the remaining energy aid with winter drawing closer."

Seoul's delegate at the talks, Hwang Joon-kook, assured North Korea that it would receive the remaining energy aid it was promised.

But South Korea's foreign minister said North Korea's intentions remained unclear.

"It's still uncertain whether the North's measures are aimed at reversing the whole situation to the pre-disablement level" or are a negotiating tactic, Yu Myung-hwan told reporters in Seoul.

The tensions come amid reports that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has suffered a stroke. Kim, 66, has not been seen in public for more than a month and has missed two major public events: a military parade marking North Korea's 60th birthday and the Korean Thanksgiving holiday.

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United States Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte speaks during a luncheon in Hong Kong Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2008. Negroponte said the United States is still hopeful the North Korea would agree to a plan to verify its nuclear program declarations.

When U.S. President George W. Bush Asia trip, he praised the U.S. relationship with South Korea on Wednesday and said the two nations should continue to work together to eliminate threats from North Korea.

"Our relationship is important vital and I believe it is strong," Bush said. President Bush said he was still concerned about North Korea and said the country has a long way to go before it is taken off his "axis of evil list" as well as removing it from a list of countries that sponsor terrorism.

"I am concerned about North Korea's human rights record," Bush said "I am concerned about the uranium enrichment..." .

According to CNN, North Korea has started reassembling its main nuclear complex in retaliation for U.S. refusal to remove the Stalinist state from a list of states that sponsor terrorism, it was reported Wednesday.

We think North Korea is taking these steps because it has not been removed from the terrorism list," he said Wednesday. North Korea announced last week that it had stopped disabling its nuclear plants on August 14 and would consider rebuilding its reactor because the United States has not removed it from a list of states that sponsor terrorism. U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Robert Wood said at the time that such a move would be "a step backward" and a violation of North Korea's commitments under a six-party deal involving the U.S., Russia, the two Koreas, China and Japan.

MANY ARE SAYING, The North Korea STILL WOULD started reassembling its main nuclear complex in retaliation EVEN IF THE U.S. has removed the Stalinist state from a list of states that sponsor terrorism. MANY ARE WATCHING AND CONCERN AROUND THE WORLD, INCLUDE U.S. AND U.N. WHICH COMES THE CRITICAL AND DANGER AROUND THE WORLD.

U.S AND THE GLOBAL SECURITY AND PROTECTION COMES FOR THE GOOD PURPOSE AND GOOD REASON.........AROUND THE WORLD PEACE.

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Reported by Catch4all.com, Sandra Englund REV. September 20th, 2008

By HYUNG-JIN KIM, Associated Press Writer

Wed Sep 3

SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea said Wednesday that North Korea had begun restoring its nuclear facilities. But the U.S. played it down, saying the country apparently only moved some equipment out of storage. .

The North said last week it had stopped dismantling its nuclear reactor on Aug. 14 because Washington had not held up its end of their disarmament deal — a promise to remove North Korea from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. At the same time, the North threatened to restore the nuclear facility.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said in a new report that North Korea had already removed "essential" equipment from its nuclear facilities by the time it decided to stop disabling them last month, suggesting it would take some time to restore its main reactor to an operational state. .

South Korean and U.S. officials have said that it would take at least a year for the North to restart the facilities after they are completely disabled.

The South Koreans did not give any specifics about what exactly the Koreans were doing to restore the Yongbyon plutonium-producing facility or when they started the work.

But in Washington, the State Department said the North had not begun reconstructing the facility.

"Our understanding is that the North Koreans are moving some equipment around that they had previously put into storage," spokesman Sean McCormack said. "Based on what we know from the reports on the ground, you don't have an effort to reconstruct, reintegrate this equipment back into the facility," he added.

He said his information came from U.S. and International Atomic Energy Agency personnel working with the North Koreans at Yongbyon.

Asked about the North Korean developments, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the U.S. wants to keep the disarmament process moving forward.

"We are expecting North Korea to live up to its obligations. And we will most certainly live up to our obligations," she said.

North Korea, which carried out an underground nuclear test blast in October 2006, later agreed with the U.S. and four other countries to disable the plant in Yongbyon, north of the capital Pyongyang. Work began in November last year.

But it then slowed the work to protest a delay in promised aid from its negotiating partners.

There was major progress in June after the North submitted its long-delayed account of its nuclear activities and destroyed its nuclear cooling tower in a show of its commitment to denuclearization.

The U.S. then announced it would take the North off the terrorism blacklist, a coveted goal of the North's cash-strapped regime. But Washington has demanded that North Korea must first agree to a plan to verify an accounting of nuclear programs it submitted in June before it can be taken off the list.

The IAEA said in a report made public on Wednesday that its monitors observed the removal and storage of fuel rods and other important equipment from North Korea's nuclear complexes, and have some material under surveillance.

More than half of the spent fuel rods at the nuclear power plant have been discharged, measured by the IAEA and moved to an adjacent spent fuel pond, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said in the report.

"These fuel rods, as well as those remaining in the reactor core, are under agency surveillance," it said.

Though McCormack played down the North Korean moves, he said Rice planned to dispatch Christopher Hill, Washington's chief North Korea nuclear envoy, and his deputy Sung Kim to Beijing on Thursday to consult with China about the situation. China, South Korea, Japan and Russia are also parties to the nuclear disaramament agreement.

South Korea's government said it was "seriously concerned" about the North's moves and was urging North Korea not to further aggravate the situation.

Japan's public broadcaster NHK and Kyodo News agency reported that North Korea started putting the facility back together Tuesday, while South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported it began Wednesday.

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Associated Press writers Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo, Matthew Lee and Desmond Butler and Foster Klug in Washington and William J. Kole in Vienna, Austria contributed to this report.

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AP - Fri Sep 5, 11:51 AM ET

BEIJING - The top U.S. nuclear envoy said Friday there was still support for talks with North Korea to break a deadlock over verification of its nuclear programs, after Pyongyang took steps seen as reversing its promised .

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President Goerge Bush discussed North Korea at the Rose Gardent in June 26th, 2008
President George Bush will notifying Congress to rescind North Korea's designation as a state sponsor of terror in 45 days and will work through the six-party talks to develop a comprehensive and rigorous verification protocol. And during this period, the United States will carefully observe North Korea's actions -- and act accordingly. See the following for detailed info:

President Bush Discusses North Korea
Rose Garden

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
June 26, 2008

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. The policy of the United States is a Korean Peninsula free of all nuclear weapons. This morning, we moved a step closer to that goal, when North Korean officials submitted a declaration of their nuclear programs to the Chinese government as part of the six-party talks.

The United States has no illusions about the regime in Pyongyang. We remain deeply concerned about North Korea's human rights abuses, uranium enrichment activities, nuclear testing and proliferation, ballistic missile programs, and the threat it continues to pose to South Korea and its neighbors.

Yet we welcome today's development as one step in the multi-step process laid out by the six-party talks between North Korea, China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, and the United States.

Last year, North Korea pledged to disable its nuclear facilities. North Korea has begun disabling its Yongbyon nuclear facility -- which was being used to produce plutonium for nuclear weapons. This work is being overseen by officials from the United States and the IAEA. And to demonstrate its commitment, North Korea has said it will destroy the cooling tower of the Yongbyon reactor in front of international television cameras tomorrow.

Last year, North Korea also pledged to declare its nuclear activity. With today's declaration, North Korea has begun describing its plutonium-related activities. It's also provided other documents related to its nuclear programs going back to 1986. It has promised access to the reactor core and waste facilities at Yongbyon, as well as personnel related to its nuclear program. All this information will be essential to verifying that North Korea is ending its nuclear programs and activities.

The six-party talks are based on a principle of "action for action." So in keeping with the existing six-party agreements, the United States is responding to North Korea's actions with two actions of our own:

First, I'm issuing a proclamation that lifts the provisions of the Trading with the Enemy Act with respect to North Korea.

And secondly, I am notifying Congress of my intent to rescind North Korea's designation as a state sponsor of terror in 45 days. The next 45 days will be an important period for North Korea to show its seriousness of its cooperation. We will work through the six-party talks to develop a comprehensive and rigorous verification protocol. And during this period, the United States will carefully observe North Korea's actions -- and act accordingly.

The two actions America is taking will have little impact on North Korea's financial and diplomatic isolation. North Korea will remain one of the most heavily sanctioned nations in the world. The sanctions that North Korea faces for its human rights violations, its nuclear test in 2006, and its weapons proliferation will all stay in effect. And all United Nations Security Council sanctions will stay in effect as well.

The six-party process has shed light on a number of issues of serious concern to the United States and the international community. To end its isolation, North Korea must address these concerns. It must dismantle all of its nuclear facilities, give up its separated plutonium, resolve outstanding questions on its highly enriched uranium and proliferation activities, and end these activities in a way that we can fully verify.

North Korea must also meet other obligations it has undertaken in the six-party talks. The United States will never forget the abduction of Japanese citizens by the North Koreans. We will continue to closely cooperate and coordinate with Japan and press North Korea to swiftly resolve the abduction issue.

This can be a moment of opportunity for North Korea. If North Korea continues to make the right choices, it can repair its relationship with the international community -- much as Libya has done over the past few years. If North Korea makes the wrong choices, the United States and our partners in the six-party talks will respond accordingly. If they do not fully disclose and end their plutonium, their enrichment, and their proliferation efforts and activities, there will be further consequences.

Multilateral diplomacy is the best way to peacefully solve the nuclear issue with North Korea. Today's developments show that tough multilateral diplomacy can yield promising results. Yet the diplomatic process is not an end in itself. Our ultimate goal remains clear: a stable and peaceful Korean Peninsula, where people are free from oppression, free from hunger and disease, and free from nuclear weapons. The journey toward that goal remains long, but today we have taken an important step in the right direction.

I'll take a couple of questions.

Mike.

Q Mr. President, thank you very much. After declaring them a member of the "axis of evil," and then after that underground nuclear tests that North Korea conducted in 2006, I'm wondering if you ever doubted getting to this stage. And also, I'm wondering if you have a message for the North Korean people.

THE PRESIDENT: I knew that the United States could not solve, or begin to solve, this issue without partners at the table. In order for diplomacy to be effective, there has to be leverage. You have to have a -- there has to be consequential diplomacy.

And so I worked hard to get the Chinese and the South Koreans and the Japanese and the Russians to join with us in sending a concerted message to the North Koreans, and that is, that if you promise and then fulfill your promises to dismantle your nuclear programs, there's a better way forward for you and the people. In other words, as I said in the statement, it's action for action.

It took a while for the North Koreans to take the six-party talks seriously, and it also took there to be concerted messages from people other than the United States saying that if you choose not to respond positively there will be consequences.

And so I'm -- it's been a -- multilateral diplomacy is difficult at times. It's hard to get people heading in the same direction, and yet we were able to do so along -- our partners helped a lot, don't get me wrong.

The message to the North Korean people is, is that we don't want you to be hungry; we want you to have a better life; that our concerns are for you, not against you; and that we have given your leadership a way forward to have better relations with the international community. This is a society that is regularly going through famines. When I campaigned for President, I said we will never use food as a diplomatic weapon. In North Korea, we have been concerned that food shipments sometimes don't make it to the people themselves -- in other words, the regime takes the food for their own use.

So my message to the people is, is that we'll continue to care for you and worry about you, and at the same time, pursue a Korean Peninsula that's nuclear weapons free. And today we have taken a step, and it's a very positive step, but there's more steps to be done.

Deb.

Q Mr. President, what do you say to critics who claim that you've accepted a watered-down declaration just to get something done before you leave office? I mean, you said that it doesn't address the uranium enrichment issue, and, of course, it doesn't address what North Korea might have done to help Syria build its reactor.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, first, let me review where we have been. In the past, we would provide benefits to the North Koreans in the hope that they would fulfill a vague promise. In other words, that's the way it was before I came into office.

Everybody was concerned about North Korea possessing a nuclear weapon; everybody was concerned about the proliferation activities. And yet the policy in the past was, here are some benefits for you, and we hope that you respond. And, of course, we found they weren't responding. And so our policy has changed, that says, in return for positive action, in return for verifiable steps, we will reduce penalties. And there are plenty of restrictions still on North Korea.

And so my point is this, is that -- we'll see. They said they're going to destroy parts of their plant in Yongbyon. That's a very positive step -- after all, it's the plant that made plutonium. They have said in their declarations, if you read their declarations of September last year, they have said specifically what they will do. And our policy, and the statement today, makes it clear we will hold them to account for their promises. And when they fulfill their promises, more restrictions will be eased. If they don't fulfill their promises, more restrictions will be placed on them. This is action for action. This is we will trust you only to the extent that you fulfill your promises.

So I'm pleased with the progress. I'm under no illusions that this is the first step; this isn't the end of the process, this is the beginning of the process of action for action. And the point I want to make to our fellow citizens is that we have worked hard to put multilateral diplomacy in place, because the United States sitting down with Kim Jong-il didn't work in the past. Sitting alone at the table just didn't work.

Now, as I mentioned in my statement, there's a lot more verification that needs to be done. I mentioned our concerns about enrichment. We expect the North Korean regime to be forthcoming about their programs. We talked about proliferation. We expect them to be forthcoming about their proliferation activities and cease such activities. I mentioned the fact that we're beginning to take inventory, because of our access to the Yongbyon plant, about what they have produced, and we expect them to be forthcoming with what they have produced and the material itself.

So today I'm just talking about the first step of a multi-step process. And I want to thank our partners at the six-party talks. It's been incredibly helpful to achieve -- the beginnings of achieving a vision of a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula to have the Chinese to be as robustly involved as they are. You notice that the North Koreans passed on their documents to the Chinese; after all, we're all partners in the six-party talks.

The other thing I want to assure our friends in Japan is that this process will not leave behind -- leave them behind on the abduction issue. The United States takes the abduction issue very seriously. We expect the North Koreans to solve this issue in a positive way for the Japanese. There's a lot of folks in Japan that are deeply concerned about what took place. I remember meeting a mother of a child who was abducted by the North Koreans right here in the Oval Office. It was a heart-wrenching moment to listen to the mother talk about what it was like to lose her daughter. And it is important for the Japanese people to know that the United States will not abandon our strong ally and friend when it comes to helping resolve that issue.

Today is a positive day; it's a positive step forward. There's more work to be done, and we've got the process in place to get it done in a verifiable way.

Thank you.

END 7:53 A.M. EDT

This website provided by catch4all.com, Sandra Englund

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