ID :
21389
Fri, 09/26/2008 - 11:30
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/21389
The shortlink copeid
(LEAD) U.S. using all leverage to reverse N.Korea's reactor restarting: State Dept.
(ATTN: UPDATES with minor changes throughout)
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Sept. 25 (Yonhap) -- The United States said Thursday it has been using all its leverage to reverse North Korea's move to reactivate its nuclear facilities disabled under a multilateral nuclear deal.
"We're trying to use all points of leverage here and encouraging the other
members to use all the leverage that they have to get North Korea to reverse
this, I guess, microtrend that we've seen evolve over the past several weeks,"
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in a daily press briefing.
Speaking to reporters in New York, where he was accompanying Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice to the United Nations General Assembly, McCormack noted a series
of meetings Rice held with her counterparts from South Korea, Russia and China in
New York over the past few days, according to a transcript released by the State
Department here.
North Korea recently expelled inspectors of the International Atomic Energy
Agency from its plutonium reprocessing plant in Yongbyon, north of its capital,
Pyongyang, apparently prior to reloading spent fuel rods for the production of
weapons-grade plutonium.
The move highlights a series of actions the North has taken recently to reverse
the disabling of nuclear facilities in protest of Washington's failure to delist
the North as a state sponsor of terrorism, citing Pyongyang's refusal to agree to
a verification protocol on its nuclear facilities.
McCormack said he had no clear picture of to what extent the North's hardline
position and leader Kim Jong-il's reported health failure are linked.
"The decision-making process in North Korea is a bit of a black box, I think, to
anybody, even those countries that are closest to North Korea," he said. "But you
know, clearly there's been a coincidence between this, as I said, microtrend and
these reports of -- about Kim Jong-il's health. I can't definitively draw A-to-B
conclusions for you about that."
The spokesman stressed the need for North Korea to present a complete
verification regime "whoever is involved in the decision-making process in North
Korea."
Kim Jong-il is reportedly recovering from a stroke, giving rise to speculation of
a power vacuum in the reclusive communist state.
"This is the standard issue verification regime," McCormack said. "It may be a
bit more difficult for the North Koreans to see that given the nature of their
society and the nature of their regime, but they also have to understand that
it's important that this be approved to move the process forward."
Deputy State Department spokesman Robert Wood also said, "What we're asking for
is basically a standard verification package. This is not something onerous. It's
not something that hasn't been done in the past, and we believe the North can do
this and needs to do it."
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Sept. 25 (Yonhap) -- The United States said Thursday it has been using all its leverage to reverse North Korea's move to reactivate its nuclear facilities disabled under a multilateral nuclear deal.
"We're trying to use all points of leverage here and encouraging the other
members to use all the leverage that they have to get North Korea to reverse
this, I guess, microtrend that we've seen evolve over the past several weeks,"
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in a daily press briefing.
Speaking to reporters in New York, where he was accompanying Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice to the United Nations General Assembly, McCormack noted a series
of meetings Rice held with her counterparts from South Korea, Russia and China in
New York over the past few days, according to a transcript released by the State
Department here.
North Korea recently expelled inspectors of the International Atomic Energy
Agency from its plutonium reprocessing plant in Yongbyon, north of its capital,
Pyongyang, apparently prior to reloading spent fuel rods for the production of
weapons-grade plutonium.
The move highlights a series of actions the North has taken recently to reverse
the disabling of nuclear facilities in protest of Washington's failure to delist
the North as a state sponsor of terrorism, citing Pyongyang's refusal to agree to
a verification protocol on its nuclear facilities.
McCormack said he had no clear picture of to what extent the North's hardline
position and leader Kim Jong-il's reported health failure are linked.
"The decision-making process in North Korea is a bit of a black box, I think, to
anybody, even those countries that are closest to North Korea," he said. "But you
know, clearly there's been a coincidence between this, as I said, microtrend and
these reports of -- about Kim Jong-il's health. I can't definitively draw A-to-B
conclusions for you about that."
The spokesman stressed the need for North Korea to present a complete
verification regime "whoever is involved in the decision-making process in North
Korea."
Kim Jong-il is reportedly recovering from a stroke, giving rise to speculation of
a power vacuum in the reclusive communist state.
"This is the standard issue verification regime," McCormack said. "It may be a
bit more difficult for the North Koreans to see that given the nature of their
society and the nature of their regime, but they also have to understand that
it's important that this be approved to move the process forward."
Deputy State Department spokesman Robert Wood also said, "What we're asking for
is basically a standard verification package. This is not something onerous. It's
not something that hasn't been done in the past, and we believe the North can do
this and needs to do it."
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)
