North Korea Orders UN Nuclear Inspectors Out

Will we be bombing North Korea before Iran? With the move by North Korea to restart their nuclear reactor, there probably is at least a possibility that we will destroy the plant before nuclear fuel is added to prevent the release of radiation after an attack, which must be in somebody's playbook on how to handle this situation. As far as I can tell it is probably the case that North Korea never intended to "forever" end its' nuclear program, but the Bush administration didn't help any by refusing to take them off the state sponsors of terrorism list last summer as promised, so blame can be laid at both countries doorsteps. Now real serious negotiations need to ensue to stop the start up of the reactor, and they should start today!!

The story at Yahoo News by George Jahn, an Associated Press writer is:
North Korea barred U.N. nuclear inspectors from its main nuclear reactor on Wednesday and within a week plans to reactivate the plant that once provided the plutonium for its atomic test explosion, the chief U.N. nuclear inspector said.

The North ordered the removal of the U.N. seals and surveillance equipment from the Yongbyon reactor, a sign it is making good on threats to restart a nuclear program that allowed it to conduct a test explosion two years ago. But the North's moves could be motivated by strategy as well. It could use the year it would take to restart the North's sole reprocessing plant to wrest further concessions from the U.S. and other nations seeking to strip it of its atomic program.

Coming amid reports that that leader Kim Jong Il suffered a stroke, the nuclear reversal has fueled worries about a breakdown of international attempts to coax the North out of its confrontational isolation with most of the rest of the world. North Korea officials have "informed the IAEA inspectors that they plan to introduce nuclear material to the reprocessing plant in one week's time," said a statement citing Mohamed ElBaradei, the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The statement said he told the the IAEA board that — acting on a North Korean request — his inspectors removed all agency seals and surveillance equipment from the reprocessing plant and its immediate area, in "work that was completed today." ElBaradei also said the North Koreans barred the IAEA inspectors from further access to the plant. North Korea in recent days had already signaled it would break out of a six-nation disarmament-for-aid deal, announcing that it was making "thorough preparations" to start up Yongbyon.

"We believe that for the North Koreans to do so, it would only deepen its isolation," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday. U.S. diplomats are talking this week with other nations bargaining with the North during this week's gathering of the United Nations General Assembly. Rice sees her Russian counterpart later Wednesday. "Everyone knows what the path ahead is. The path ahead is for there to be agreement on verification protocol so that we can continue along the path of denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. The North Koreans know that and so we'll continue working with our partners on what steps we might need to take," she said. And in Seoul, Foreign Ministry spokesman Moon Tae-young expressed deep concern. But the comments were measured, reflecting fears that harsh condemnation would backfire by accelerating the North's move to restore its nuclear capacities.

The agency has been monitoring the nuclear facilities at Yongbyon, which were shut down and then sealed as part of a North Korean pledge to disable its nuclear program. That move was meant to be a step toward eventually dismantling Yongbyon in return for diplomatic concessions and energy aid equivalent to 1 million tons of oil under a February 2007 deal with South Korea, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan. The accord hit a snag in mid-August when the U.S. refused to remove North Korea from its list of states that sponsor terrorism until the North accepts a plan to verify a declaration of its nuclear programs that it submitted earlier. The Yongbyon plant was under IAEA seals in December 2002 when the North decided to order IAEA inspectors out of the country and to restart its nuclear activities, after the unraveling of a deal committing the U.S. to help the country build a peaceful nuclear program.

North Korea subsequently quit the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in January 2003 and announced it had nuclear weapons a little more than two years later. A U.N. official who demanded anonymity for divulging confidential information said Wednesday that other nuclear sites in North Korea remained under IAEA purview. She also said agency seals remained on the spent fuel rods that were removed from Yongbyon under the terms of the deal.

The fuel rods are key to producing the plutonium the North would need to restart its weapons program by separating the fissile substance out of the material released once the rods are dissolved within the reactor. The U.N. official said the three-member IAEA team was expecting that the North Koreans would also soon ask the team to remove the seals from the thousands of fuel rods in storage. More than 60 percent of those rods had already been removed under the six-nation deal. North Korea had agreed in February 2007 to begin dismantling its nuclear program in exchange for aid and other concessions.

Scientists began disabling its reactor in November, and in June blew up the Yongbyon cooling tower in a dramatic show of its commitment to the pact. Eight of the 11 steps needed to disable the reactor were completed by July, North Korean officials said. But later that month, Washington made an additional request: detailed verification of the process, including soil samples and interviews with scientists. The U.S. pinned one of its concessions — removing North Korea from its list of nations that sponsor terrorism — on verification. North Korea rejected the demand, saying verification was never part of the deal, and threatened to pull out of the pact, if Washington continued pressing for verification.

A North Korean envoy confirmed on Friday that authorities had stopped disabling Yongbyon and intended to restart the facility. Experts say it would take about a year to restart the Yongbyon facilities after completely disabling it. Scientists reportedly have tested the reactor's ignition, and this week asked the IAEA to remove its seals.

Well have a Good Hump Day, as we have one more thing to worry about this week!! We will update this story as needed!!

North Korea Shuts Down Nuclear Reactor

It looks as if there is a ray of light with one of the axis of evil countries and an actual diplomatic success by the Bush admnistration and the United Nations, as a North Korean diplomat confirmed that his country had shut down its sole operating nuclear reactor after receiving an initial shipment of oil aid and said United Nations inspectors would start verifying the closure on Sunday. If confirmed by the United Nations inspection team, the shutdown would be the North's first step in nearly five years toward de-nuclearization, one that comes after lengthy international talks.

Saturday's delivery of 6,200 tons of heavy fuel oil from South Korea was the first of 50,000 tons promised to the North in exchange for shutting down its reactor in a deal with the United States, China, Japan, South Korea and Russia. Pyongyang will eventually get 1 million tons of oil and other financial and political concessions. After tortuous negotiations and delays, during which the North argued its nuclear program was needed for self-defense, the reclusive regime said earlier this month that once it received the oil shipment, it would consider halting its reactor.

In Washington, the State Department said Saturday that North Korea had told the United States the reactor had been shut down, hours after the oil arrived in port. Footage showed dozens of cardboard boxes being loaded onto the back of two trucks. It was not immediately clear what they contained but Tolba earlier said he and his colleagues were bringing 2,200 pounds of equipment for use during the trip.

After the IAEA team installs monitoring equipment, some experts will remain at Yongbyon to ensure the reactor stays shuttered, said a diplomat familiar with North Korea's file at the IAEA. United States envoy Christopher Hill has said the disabling of the North's nuclear facilities could be completed by the end of the year. He said he also expected a complete declaration of its atomic programs within months.

The United States was informed of the shutdown at about 10:30 p.m. Saturday Pyongyang time (9:30 a.m. EDT), Hill told Japanese broadcaster NHK. He added that he expected a report from the IAEA inspectors at Yongbyon by the end of Sunday. The six-party agreement eased a standoff that began in October 2002, when the U.S. said North Korean officials had admitted having a secret uranium enrichment program. Washington said that violated a 1994 agreement for the North's disarmament, and a month later halted oil shipments under that deal. The North reacted by expelling IAEA monitors, withdrawing from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and restarting the reactor.

North Korea has since occasionally shut down the reactor to remove fuel rods and extract plutonium. It is believed to have harvested enough for at least a dozen bombs. The government set off an underground nuclear test explosion in October, leading to intensified international efforts to negotiate an end to its arms program.

The North was likely to term the shutdown simply a suspension of operations, which could be easily reversed, but for now this is something to celebrate and perhaps a starting point for negotiations with Iran to end their nuclear program.
Perhaps diplomacy, and not war can end Iran's program!