N. Korea nears submission of nuclear declaration

Posted on : 2007-12-17 09:47 KST Modified on : 2007-12-17 09:47 KST
Questions remain about the country’s uranium enrichment activities

WASHINGTON - North Korea is expected to submit a list specifying its nuclear activities to China as the Chinese envoy to a six-nation forum on the North’s denuclearization, Wu Dawei, is to visit Pyongyang this week.

A high-ranking official of the U.S. State Department was quoted as saying on Friday, “The North is supposed to disclose all its nuclear programs to China. The planned visit by Wu Dawei to Pyongyang next week will be a good chance for the North to submit the list.” But he said that he is not sure whether the North will come clean on its nuclear programs, as promised by the end of this year, and to what extent the communist country will disclose them.

Meanwhile, responding to a letter sent to Kim Jong-il by U.S. President Bush earlier this month, the North delivered its response via its representative to the United Nations, saying that “We will implement what was agreed upon as long as the U.S. carries out what it promised.”

Under an agreement reached in February, North Korea agreed to declare and then dismantle its nuclear programs and facilities in a deal negotiated by the six parties of China, Japan, the United States and North and South Korea. If the North meets its end-of-year deadline, it will receive 950,000 metric tons of heavy fuel oil, or its economic equivalent, and other diplomatic concessions, such as improved relations with the United States and removal from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terror.

The Washington Post reported in its Saturday edition that North Korea and the United States have failed to see eye-to-eye on the issue of disclosing all past nuclear activities, including the North’s development of nuclear weapons and nuclear proliferation, though the two have made significant progress toward dismantlement.

North Korea insists that it is not exporting nuclear technology at present, while declining to disclose its past activities. In addition, the communist country is suspected of not having disclosed activities related to the development of weapons-grade plutonium, with the exception of how much material it has extracted.

The Washington Post said that the North is unwilling to disclose for what exact purpose it purchased materials that could be used for producing highly-enriched uranium, though it promised to confirm the purchase of materials as demanded by the United States.

The North has reportedly completed four out of 11 steps toward nuclear disablement, making more progress than what was agreed upon in a 1994 agreement signed in Geneva, some said.

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