SEOUL/WASHINGTON, 11 January 2003 — North Korea yesterday withdrew from the global Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and defiantly told the world that any international economic sanctions would be seen as a “declaration of war”.
International powers condemned the move, seen as a new act of nuclear brinkmanship in its showdown with the United States, and US President George W. Bush called Chinese counterpart Jiang Zemin, one of the few leaders thought to have any influence with reclusive Stalinist autocrat Kim Jong Il.
But two North Korean envoys also huddled with Clinton-era diplomatic troubleshooter Bill Richardson in New Mexico, for unofficial talks which had spurred hopes Thursday that the crisis could be ended. “The government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in a statement today declared its withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and its total freedom from the binding force of the safeguards accord with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),” the North Korean government said in a statement.
Bristling with defiance, North Korean Ambassador to the United Nations Pak Gil Yon called a rare news conference and warned the UN Security Council that any decision to impose sanctions over the North’s twin nuclear programs would be seen as “a declaration of war” in Pyongyang. But Pak did hint that Pyongyang was open to a way out of the crisis, saying, “any problem could be resolved pacifically by negotiation” with the United States.
The Bush administration has said it is willing to “talk” to Pyongyang on how it can dismantle its nuclear programs, but refuses to “negotiate” or offer new incentives for it to live up to previous pledges not to develop such weapons.
Pak pointedly refused to deny that North Korea had already manufactured nuclear weapons. US intelligence experts believe the Communist state may already have enough processed plutonium to make at least two bombs. Pyongyang’s decisions to reactivate a mothballed nuclear plant and to launch separate enriched uranium program could allow it to produce multiple weapons within a few years, experts warn.
Kim Jong Il’s regime, meanwhile, drew vigorous international condemnation after announcing it was going to pull out of the NPT. South Korean President Kim Dae-jung said the crisis had now lurched “from bad to worse” and Pyongyang’s traditional allies Moscow and Beijing expressed concern.
As alarm over North Korea’s defiance spread, Bush called Jiang, one of the few leaders thought to have any influence over the Kim’s opaque autocratic regime. “They both agree that North Korea’s announcement that it was withdrawing from the non-proliferation treaty was a concern to the entire international community,” said Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer.
Pyongyang rejected a resolution by the International Atomic Energy Agency on Monday which ordered Pyongyang to readmit its monitors expelled on New Year’s Eve.
“The United States persistently thinks to stifle the DPRK at any cost, and the IAEA is used as a tool for erecting the US hostile policy toward the DPRK,” Pak charged. (The Independent)
