By Kim Young-jin
North Korea announced Monday it had invited the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) back into the country as part of an agreement with the United States, despite Washington’s warning that a long-range rocket launch planned by the Stalinist state could stifle the deal.
Concern has soared since the North announced the launch, which it asserts is to put a satellite into orbit, but is widely seen as cover for a long-range missile test using the same technology.
Washington says the move would be a “deal breaker” after the North agreed last month to nuclear concessions including an IAEA-monitored shutdown of its uranium enrichment activities at Yongbyon in exchange for nutritional assistance. It would also breach U.N. Security Council sanctions.
The deal included a moratorium by Pyongyang on missile and nuclear tests.
News of the IAEA invitation came from North Korea’s chief nuclear envoy Ri Yong-ho, who maintained the launch should be handled separately from the deal.
“In order to implement the agreement, we’ve sent a letter of invitation to the IAEA to send inspectors to our country,” he said after talks with its main ally China in Beijing.
The move comes amid soaring international concern over the launch announced last Friday. Japan, Russia and other nations have called for the North to drop the plan, while China has expressed concern. Seoul has called it a “grave provocation” aimed at developing a long-range ballistic missile capable of delivering nuclear warheads.
In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said any invitation of the IAEA would be beneficial, but stressed the administration’s stance against the launch.
“It doesn’t change the fact that we would consider a satellite launch a violation not only of their U.N. obligations but of the commitments they made to us,” she told reporters.
The invitation, later confirmed by an IAEA spokesperson, comes three years after the North expelled the agency before restarting its nuclear activities at the site.
The North’s moves have thrown diplomatic efforts to curb the growth of its nuclear program into deep limbo. The deal was said to be paving the way for resumption of six-party denuclearization talks that include the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, Russia and China.
Analysts say the rocket launch is tied to Pyongyang’s campaign to consolidate power for leader Kim Jong-un, who took over as leader after the death of his father Kim Jong-il. It is slated to take place around April 15, the 100th anniversary of the birth of country founder Kim Il-sung, the current leader’s grandfather.
Details on the IAEA invitation including what access the experts would be given were not immediately available.
The North is believed to have more than 1,000 missiles including intermediate range missiles capable of striking Japan as well as U.S. bases in the Pacific.
The launch would be Pyongyang’s third announced attempt since 1998 to send a satellite into space aboard a long-range rocket.
Despite the North’s repeated claims to an inherent right to the peaceful use of space, any testing of multi-stage rockets has been banned under U.N. Security Council Resolution 1874, which was put in place after the country’s second nuclear test, in 2009.
Experts say North Korean engineers apply the learning that takes place during the launches to missile development.