ElBaradei to go to shore up NKorea atom halt pact

Vienna, Mar 11: The UN nuclear watchdog chief leaves for North Korea today to broker a return of inspectors to the secretive Stalinist state under a precarious six-party pact to dismantle its atomic bomb programme.

A diplomat close to the International Atomic Energy Agency said IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei hoped to secure a timetable and terms for IAEA inspectors to verify a shutdown of North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear complex, including its plutonium fuel plant, by mid-April -- centrepiece of the February 13 accord.

North Korea expelled inspectors and quit the global nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty four years ago. In 2005 it announced it had nuclear arms and in 2006 it test-detonated its first nuclear device, drawing on itself UN financial and arms sanctions.

ElBaradei, speaking on March 5, said that after years of nothing but bad news there was was now a move ''to reverse course toward denuclearisation and a comprehensive settlement involving economic and security concerns.'' Diplomats said there was no assurance ElBaradei, who will make stopovers in Beijing before and after his March 13-14 stay in Pyongyang, would finalise details of fresh inspections.

They cited Pyongyang's wariness toward outsiders, unpredictability and likelihood to wrangle with China, Russia, the United States, Japan and South Korea over how to proceed.

''This is just the first opening after years of no contact with a state whose inner workings of the mind no one can really fathom,'' said a developing-nation ambassador accredited to the IAEA who asked for anonymity.

''It's possible but not certain ElBaradei will reach closure on a date for inspectors to redeploy. If he starts negotiations on ground rules for inspections and gets a commitment to more meetings to finalise things, that would be progress,'' the envoy said.

Vague Invitation Letter:

A senior European diplomat noted Pyongyang's invitation to ElBaradei lacked specifics of what was expected to be addressed.

Mark Fitzpatrick, an analyst at London's International Institute for Strategic Studies, said all parties were showing willingness to meet the minimum requirements of the February accord's 60-day deadline. But pitfalls lurked.

''The February 13 agreement does not specify that the verification must be completed before the end of that period.

Another difficulty could ensue over the vagueness of the deal with regard to which facilities are to be shut and sealed,'' he said.

Mistrust among the six parties would make it hard to fully implement the accord, China's chief envoy, Wu Dawei, said on Friday after discussions with Pyongyang.

After inspectors seal Yongbyon, Pyongyang is supposed to furnish a full list of its nuclear programmes, including its plutonium stockpile, and disable other atomic infrastructure.

In return, impoverished North Korea would get major fuel aid, a process to remove trade sanctions and Pyongyang from a US list of state sponsors of terrorism, and security benefits -- the extent of all linked to the extent of denuclearisation.

But critics of the deal say North Korea has not promised to tear down Yongbyon or put under IAEA control its fissile plutonium estimated to be enough for at least six atomic bombs.

In a sign of continuing tension, North Korean nuclear envoy Kim Kye-gwan speaking in Beijing yesterday warned that if Washington failed to lift financial sanctions against it, his country would have to take ''corresponding actions'' in response.

About 24 million dollar in North Korean accounts at Banco Delta Asia financial sanctions were frozen after the United States designated the Macau bank a ''primary money laundering concern'', but Washington has agreed to resolve the matter as part of the February deal.

Reuters

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