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ElBaradei warns of tough task ahead on NKorea
By Dan Martin
AFP
BEIJING
Petroleumworld.com 03 13 07The head of the UN atomic watchdog warned Monday against expecting quick breakthroughs in the North Korean nuclear crisis as he prepared for a landmark visit to the isolated Stalinist state.
"This is a very complex process and there is a lot of confidence that needs to be built," Mohamed ElBaradei told reporters at Beijing's airport.
ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, will fly to Pyongyang on Tuesday to negotiate the return of watchdog inspectors to the country as part of efforts to dismantle Pyongyang's nuclear programme.
North Korea kicked out IAEA inspectors four years ago and severed ties with the Vienna-based agency when it withdrew from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty designed to halt the spread of atomic weapons.
ElBaradei's delicate mission comes one week before six-nation negotiations resume in Beijing to execute a landmark disarmament deal to shut the North's nuclear facilities in exchange for energy aid.
The deal signed on February 13 calls for North Korea to close and seal its key Yongbyon facility -- long suspected to be the centre of its nuclear programme -- within 60 days and admit UN nuclear inspectors in return for an initial 50,000 tonnes of badly needed heavy fuel oil.
North Korea shattered years of diplomacy aimed at thwarting its nuclear ambitions when it detonated a nuclear device in October last year.
"There are lot of issues to consider -- security issues, economic issues, and political issues -- and you will have to bear with us," ElBaradei said.
"I hope that we can agree with the DPRK to get our inspectors back in time to implement the agreement of the six-party talks," ElBaradei said, referring to North Korea by its official name.
The six nations involved in the talks are North and South Korea, the United States, Japan, Russia and hosts China.
ElBaradei said he would also seek the resumption of Pyongyang's membership in the IAEA, which North Korea withdrew in 1994.
"We also hope to come up with a modality to normalise relations with the IAEA, and hopefully the DPRK can come back as a full member of the agency."
The trip indicates impoverished North Korea is serious about following the terms of the deal, said Paik Haksoon, a senior analyst at Seoul's Sejong Institute, a private think-tank.
Under the accord, North Korea will receive up to the equivalent of one million tonnes of fuel oil if it sticks to an escalating series of requirements on scrapping its nuclear programmes.
"North Korea invited ElBaradei to Pyongyang. This is direct evidence which we can present to trust North Korea's political commitment to shut down and seal its nuclear facilities," Paik told AFP.
Li Dunqiu, a North Korea expert with the Development Research Center in Beijing, agreed.
"It is likely that this time the IAEA will receive different treatment compared with the situation in 2002. The key point is the improvement of North Korea-US relations," he said.
Under the tenuous and multi-faceted deal, the United States also agreed to begin talks on normalising relations with Pyongyang, a longstanding North Korean wish.
The two sides held talks last week but they ended with the reclusive Stalinist state threatening retaliation if the US failed to lift financial sanctions that have frozen 24 million dollars in a Macau bank.
The United States had promised to lift those sanctions 30 days from the signing of the agreement.ElBaradei was to hold talks on Monday with Wu Dawei, China's representative to the six-party talks, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said, providing no further details.
ElBaradei departs for North Korea early Tuesday.
AFP 12 1013 GMT 03 07
Copyright© 2007 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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