N. Korea reapplying seals on nuclear facilities: State Dept.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 14 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has begun reapplying seals to its nuclear reactor as a step toward disabling its nuclear facilities, an about-face after weeks of defiance over the U.S. failure to remove the North from a terrorism blacklist, the State Department said Tuesday.

"I understand that the IAEA has resumed its work," spokesman Sean McCormack said
at a daily news briefing. "It has started to reapply seals."
The remarks came after the International Atomic Energy Agency said Monday its
monitors are in place in North Korea's nuclear complex in Yongbyon, north of the
North's capital, Pyongyang, about one week after they were expelled amid rising
tensions over how to verify the North's declared nuclear facilities.
The U.S. Saturday announced that North Korea had agreed to allow access to its
nuclear facilities and undeclared sites, on "mutual consent," by U.S. and other
international inspectors in a major breakthrough in the denuclearization talks
involving the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia.
Washington then lifted the North from the U.S. list of state sponsors of
terrorism, and Pyongyang responded by saying it will begin disabling its nuclear
facilities again.
Hardliners contend the Bush administration surrendered to North Korea in hopes of
achieving its only diplomatic victory as it deals with difficulties in Iraq, Iran
and Afghanistan at the end of its eight-year tenure.
The New York Times said in an editorial Tuesday, "The deal is far from perfect.
It includes vague and confidential terms that could cause problems."
The liberal daily was referring to the clause on access to undeclared sites by
"mutual consent," which may mean no access to undeclared sites that might have
uranium-based nuclear facilities, one of the contentious points in the
verification issue along with suspected nuclear proliferation.
Proponents say the deal should not be seen as surrender, but an accomplishment
that prevented North Korea from producing more plutonium for nuclear warheads,
aside from up to 50 kilograms of plutonium it is believed to have already. The
amount is enough to produce several warheads.
"I guess, simply put, the North Koreans have started the reversal of their
reversal," McCormack said. "So they're getting back to that baseline where they
were very close to meeting their obligations under this second phase that we're
in, in terms of disablement."
The spokesman said U.S. monitors were back "on the ground."
"And I didn't check this morning to see if they actually were engaged in
activities," he said. "But I believe that they are free to do so."
In a related move, National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe urged
North Korea to resolve the issue of kidnappings of Japanese citizens as part of a
spy program.
"We want Japan and the DPRK to continue to work on this issue together," Johndroe
told Yonhap News Agency through e-mail. "The DPRK needs to honor its commitments
to Japan and provide them resolution on this issue."
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is North Korea's official name.
The spokesman was echoing President Bush's remarks made Saturday that "the U.S.
will never forget the abduction of Japanese citizens by the North Koreans."
Speaking to Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso by telephone, Bush also said, "We
will continue to strongly support Japan's position on the abduction issue and
will urge North Korea to take immediate steps to implement the commitments it
made this summer as part of the agreement reached with Japan."
Despite the assurances, Aso told a parliamentary committee Tuesday that he made
it clear to Washington that Tokyo opposed the delisting and that it would not
provide energy aid to North Korea unless Pyongyang addresses the kidnapping
issue.
Under a six-party deal, five other parties are to provide 1 million tons of heavy
fuel oil or equivalent aid to the North by the end of October in return for the
North disabling of its Yongbyon nuclear facilities by that time.
North Korea agreed months ago in a meeting with Japan to address claims it is
still holding several Japanese abductees, apart from five it sent back to Japan
years ago. No concrete progress has since been made on the issue.
North Korea insists eight other Japanese citizens abducted in the 1970s and 80s
for training of North Korean agents in Japanese language and culture are dead.
hdh@yna.co.kr
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