N Korea Quits Non-Proliferation Treaty

by Thalif Deen

In this night satellite photo, South Korea resembles the United States or Europe, with most of the nation illuminated city lights and road traffic. By contrast, North Korea shows almost no signs of industrial society

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the only UN body mandated to prevent nuclear proliferation, accused North Korea of continuing its "policy of defiance" by pulling out of the NPT, with 188 signatories the most widely subscribed to multilateral treaty on disarmament.

The withdrawal is "counter-productive to ongoing efforts to achieve peace and stability in the Korean peninsula," Mohamed El Baradei, IAEA director-general, told reporters Friday.

El Baradei said the international community was willing to engage in a dialogue with North Korea to resolve the problem peacefully -- "but not under the threat of nuclear blackmail."

Hours later, Ambassador Pak Gil Yon of North Korea dismissed the IAEA as "a servant and spokesman of the United States."

"The NPT is being used as a tool for implementing hostile U.S. policy towards North Korea. We can therefore no longer remain bound by the NPT," he added.

The envoy accused the IAEA of keeping mum over the unilateral U.S. decision to withdraw from a 1994 bilateral agreement under which Washington was expected to provide aid to Pyonyang in return for North Korea freezing its nuclear programs.

The country said last month that it was re-starting its nuclear reactor for badly needed electricity following a decision by the United States, Japan and South Korea to cut off oil shipments.

That cut was prompted by reports that North Korea had been secretly making efforts to continue its nuclear weapons programme, in violation of its 1994 agreement with the United States.

The NPT entered into force in 1970, primarily to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and nuclear technology. The only non-signatories of the treaty are India, Pakistan and Israel -- all undeclared nuclear states. The last signatory to the NPT was Cuba.

Under Article 10 of the treaty, a decision to withdraw can only be effected after three months.

Jayantha Dhanapala, UN under-secretary-general for disarmament affairs, told IPS that North Korea's withdrawal is a major setback for nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation.

"It follows in the wake of India and Pakistan crossing the nuclear threshold in 1998 and the recent (United States) announcement of policies on the new and pre-emptive uses of nuclear weapons," he added.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Friday that "no state party to the NPT has ever withdrawn from the treaty in 33 years since its entry into force". He "strongly urged" Pyongyang to reconsider its decision.

While noting North Korea has denied it intends to acquire nuclear weapons, Annan stressed the importance of adhering to global treaties and their legal obligations in achieving global peace and security.

The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations said the United States was not surprised by the North Korean decision.

"They have shown their disdain to the treaty for many years," said John Negroponte. "This represents a further escalation of North Korea's defiance of the international consensus in support of a Korean peninsula free of nuclear weapons and a serious challenge to the international non-proliferation regime."

Washington, he added, rejected North Korea's claims that actions by the United States and the IAEA justify the withdrawal.

"Today's announcement is another step in its confrontational approach to the international community and flies in the face of persistent calls on North Korea to comply with its obligations," Negroponte added.

An expert told IPS that the U.S. administration's recent approach to North Korea has not been particularly constructive. "But there is no excuse for North Korea's decision to abandon the non-proliferation regime," added Natalie Goldring, executive director of the Programme on Global Security and Disarmament at the University of Maryland.

She said Pyongyang has a well-established pattern of taking advantage of challenging political circumstances. "This is no exception."

Dhanapala said the first step in resolving the growing crisis should be resuming dialogue between the parties so that the 1994 bilateral agreement can be reactivated and North Korea can resume its NPT obligations.

"In the longer term," he said, "we need the de-nuclearisation of the Korean peninsula to be given a legal form, and all non-nuclear weapon states in the NPT to be given legally binding assurances that they will not be attacked with nuclear weapons."

Besides its withdrawal from the NPT, North Korea has also declared its intention to revive its long dormant nuclear weapons program and has also expelled UN arms inspectors monitoring its nuclear facilities.

The CIA has warned that once North Korea starts reprocessing nuclear fuel into plutonium, it will have the capability to produce five to six nuclear weapons before the end of this year.

Pak told reporters Friday he was not in a position to say whether North Korea possesses nuclear weapons.

But he warned that if the UN Security Council, under pressure from the United States, decides to impose economic sanctions, "we would consider it a declaration of war against us".