Nuclear Experiments In South Korea Raise Concern

(IPS) SEOUL -- In last week's U.S. presidential debate, both Sen. John Kerry and President George Bush identified "nuclear proliferation" as the largest threat to global security. But as the candidates disagreed over how to handle the threat of North Korea, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been analyzing the controversial nuclear experiments of another close-by country -- South Korea.

Wrapping up its second weeklong round of inspections, a five-member team from the United Nations' nuclear watchdog group left Seoul on Sept. 26, taking with them about 20 samples of nuclear material and waste left over from South Korea's 1982 and 2000 experiments, according to the Ministry of Science and Technology.

The South Korean government, which maintains the experiments were only for academic research, has said it has no intention to develop or possess any nuclear arms and will continue to comply with every international agreement, including the IAEA safeguard agreements. The IAEA is scheduled to review Seoul's atomic tests in its next regular session, which begins Nov. 25.

During their Sept. 13 board meeting, IAEA director general Mohamed ElBaradei expressed "serious concern" over South Korea's failure to report its experiments.

The IAEA team visited the Koesan region in North Chungchong Province, about 100 miles south of Seoul, where South Korea's past government had once tried to develop a uranium mine.

A ministry official, however, bristled at the suggestion that the uranium was part of a larger nuclear program by the government. "Uranium reserves of 120 million tons were discovered in the Koesan area in the 1970s, but the government decided not to develop it because of low economic viability," he said.

The IAEA also inspected the Korean Atomic Energy Research Institute in Taejon, and another nuclear research center in Seoul. "The government showed the IAEA inspectors what they wanted to see," said the official. "They thanked the government for its cooperation."

The team's mission was to follow up on the IAEA's first inspection of the South Korean nuclear facilities in question, conducted from Aug. 31 to Sept. 5, which the organization says was not enough to allay all suspicions over the country's past nuclear activities.

Seoul faces scrutiny on a total of six nuclear-related matters, including an unauthorized experiment with plutonium in 1982 and a uranium enrichment test in 2000. Tests on plutonium and enriched uranium, two key ingredients of nuclear weapons, are strictly monitored by the IAEA.

The truth behind the allegations is expected to be disclosed in November, when the IAEA chief plans to report the results of the inspections to a meeting of the agency's board of directors.

Meanwhile, a foreign news agency reported on Sept. 27 that the IAEA suspects South Korea's past experiments with small amounts of plutonium and uranium may have been connected to a nuclear weapons development program that Seoul pursued in the 1970s.

Quoting unidentified diplomatic sources in Vienna, where the IAEA is based, Japan's Kyodo News Agency reported that the watchdog organization believes the South Korean government might have continued the secret research to maintain basic nuclear weapons technologies it gained from the program under the South Korea's Park Chung-hee administration.

The allegation runs counter to a widely accepted belief that the South Korean government suspended its nuclear development program under U.S. pressure before signing the Non-Proliferation Treaty in the late 1970s. The United States is believed to have a large arsenal of nuclear weapons in or close to the country.