By Yoon Won-sup
Staff Reporter
Seoul's top nuclear negotiator said Friday that the nuclear dismantlement program, which the United States led with regard to the former Soviet Union, can apply to North Korea.
Chun Yung-woo said at a security seminar in Seoul that North Korea could dismantle its nuclear weapons in accordance with the Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) program as the former Soviet Union had.
Chun cited the program, crafted by Sen. Richard Lugar and Sam Nunn, which set up an annual globally-collected budget of hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars for the removal of weapons of mass destruction as well as for the training and re-employment of Soviet nuclear scientists.
The Nunn-Lugar program can be modified and adapted to North Korea, said Chun, who leads Seoul's delegation to the six-way talks, aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear ambition.
The program has expanded into a global one with the participation of the European Union and Japan since the G8 Summit in Canada in 2002.
Chun said North Korea reportedly has 5,000 nuclear scientists who will need to become involved in the denuclearization of North Korea.
``We will face a problem about how to educate the North Korean nuclear scientists if North Korea realizes denuclearization,'' he said. ``They should work in peaceful and productive fields after the denuclearization.''
Turning to the provision of a light-water reactor to North Korea, Chun said it will not be made until the last stage of denuclearization and the return of North Korea to the Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT).
``The construction of the reactor will take six or seven years, and during the construction period, the CTR program will be sought,'' Chun added.
As part of the program, he suggested peaceful use of the land occupied by the Yongbyon nuclear complex, such as using it for a uranium refinery, in an environmentally friendly way. He expected such a transformation to create jobs for North Koreans.
He also proposed the establishment of a nuclear research center in Pyongyang, where South Korean experts can conduct their research.
Chun said North Korea completed eight out of eleven measures for disabling nuclear facilities in Yongbyon and the rest will be finished after the nuclear fuel rods are all removed.
North Korea was supposed to disable its nuclear facilities and declare its nuclear program by the end of 2007. In return, the communist nation would receive economic aid and political concessions, such as the normalization of ties with the United States.
However, North Korea still refused to submit a full list declaring its nuclear program.