The United States yesterday rejected North Korea's claim that it had not agreed to allow nuclear sample collection as part of a program to verify Pyongyang's atomic activities, the Yonhap News Agency reported (see GSN, Nov. 12).
(Nov. 13) -
U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Wood yesterday said North Korea had previously agreed to allow inspectors to remove nuclear samples (U.S. State Department).
High-level envoys from Pyongyang and Washington in talks last month agreed on a plan for verification, a component of the overall denuclearization of North Korea, that U.S. officials said included site visits to declared and possibly undeclared nuclear facilities and sampling of materials.
"It was basically agreed that experts could take samples and remove them from the country for testing," said State Department spokesman Robert Wood.
"I'm not able to tell you what the North Koreans are thinking," he added.
"With regard to verification issues, we've had discussions," Wood said. "We'll continue to have discussions with the North Koreans on this issue."
Sampling could help experts determine how much plutonium has been produced in North Korea, allowing for an assessment of the size of the nation's nuclear arsenal (Yonhap News Agency I, Nov. 13).
"The sampling issue is the core focus of the verification measures," said South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan. "The U.S. and North Korea held their recent talks on this understanding" (Agence France-Presse I/Spacewar.com, Nov. 13).
North Korea might be moving into a delaying mode while it waits for U.S. President-elect Barack Obama to take office in January, said Gary Samore, vice president of the Council on Foreign Relations.
"They have high hopes that the Obama administration will be more generous in terms of getting energy assistance and political recognition," Samore said.
"The longer they can hang on to their nuclear weapons, the more likely people will eventually be frustrated and give up," he added. "That's something they are very good at."
The Obama administration must also focus on suspected North Korean uranium enrichment and nuclear proliferation activities, said former Bush administration Asia specialist Michael Green. Those issues were played down in the North Korean nuclear declaration issued in June, and reports indicate they might again be skirted in the document laying out details of verification. The six nations involved in the nuclear talks -- China, Japan, Russia, the United States and both Koreas -- have not set a date for a meeting to finalize such a document (Yonhap News Agency).
It might take time for the Obama administration to turn its full attention to North Korea, said Charles Pritchard, head of the Korea Economic Institute. The economy and other issues might take precedence and it could take months to fill key Cabinet seats, such as the heads of the State and Defense departments, he said.
"North Korea is not the top priority of the incoming administration," Pritchard said (Yonhap News Agency II, Nov. 13).
Meanwhile, the United States is sending another 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil to North Korea, Yonhap reported. The two-part shipment, set to arrive this month and in early December, is part of the 1 million tons promised to Pyongyang under a 2007 denuclearization deal. It would bring Washington's total contribution to 200,000 tons, Wood said. North Korea has received half of its promised allotment of oil and related assistance (Yonhap News Agency I).
Elsewhere, technology that would identify a North Korean nuclear test is set to be fielded this month in South Korea, AFP reported today. The earthquake monitoring devices would be placed underground at three sites near the two nations' border (Agence France-Presse II/Spacewar.com, Nov. 13).