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Director general Yukiya Amano of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it could begin inspections of North Korea’s nuclear shutdown within a matter of weeks once the relevant countries reach an agreement.

Speaking at an IAEA board of governors’ meeting in Vienna on June 4, director general Yukiya Amano said, “The Agency is closely following developments [including the North Korea-US summit discussion process] related to the nuclear program of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.”

“We continue to enhance our readiness to play an essential role in verifying the DPRK’s nuclear program if a political agreement [to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue] is reached among countries concerned,” he added.

Amano went on to say that the “DPRK Team in the Safeguards Department [. . .] formed last year [. . .] [has] intensified [its] efforts to ensure that the Agency will be ready to promptly undertake any activities that we may be requested to conduct.”

“We would be able to resume our verification activities at short notice, within weeks, not months,” he added.

The IAEA is a UN-affiliated international organization created in 1957 to prevent the diversion of nuclear energy for military ends.

The IAEA has been unable to access North Korea’s nuclear facilities since inspectors stationed near Yongbyon, North Pyongan Province – home to a large concentration of the facilities – were expelled in Apr. 2009. North Korea is believed to have produce dozens of warheads over the course of five additional nuclear tests in the intervening years.

In Aug. 2017, the IAEA assembled a permanent DPRK team to prepare for a “central role” in inspecting the North’s nuclear program. The team has used monitoring Yongbyon and other nuclear facilities by means of satellite images, while making technical preparations for future inspections.

The main issues are the massive amounts of funds and staff needed for inspections and the subsequent denuclearization process. Fully eliminating the nuclear capabilities North Korea has been developing since the 1960s is predicted to be a complex process lasting ten years or more. In a recent report, Stanford University professor and world-renowned nuclear physicist Siegfried Hecker estimated it could take as long as 15 years to complete North Korea’s denuclearization. In an interview with the Nikkei, an IAEA official explained, “There’s a limited number of nuclear experts.”

“How to ensure the staffing needed for real inspections is going to be the biggest question,” the official predicted.

By Gil Yun-hyung, staff reporter

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