VIENNA: North Korea's nuclear programme is a matter of "serious
concern," the UN atomic agency IAEA said in a report released on Thursday,
referring in particular to two sites Pyongyang has stopped it from visiting.
"The nuclear programme of
(North Korea) is a matter of serious concern," said the report from the
International Atomic Energy Agency.
North Korea's statements about
uranium enrichment activities and the construction of a light-water reactor
"continue to be deeply troubling", the report added.
The country had in recent months
made significant progress in building this reactor, the report said.
In late February, the United
States announced it had agreed a moratorium with North Korea on nuclear
activities and ballistic missile tests, in exchange for a resumption of food
aid to the hermetic Stalinist state.
In March, North Korea invited the
IAEA to send inspectors to help implement the deal - a significant
rapprochement given it expelled agency inspectors in 2009 and has since refused
to cooperate with the agency.
But after a much-vaunted missile
launch by Pyongyang on April 13, Washington suspended the deal, even though the
launch failed.
Talks between the IAEA and North
Korea have thus remained on hold.
Nevertheless, Thursday's report
from the agency called on North Korea to renew its cooperation with them.
"The Agency will continue to
maintain its readiness to play an essential role in verifying (North Korea's)
nuclear programme," it added.
The North has staged two nuclear
tests, in 2006 and 2009. In November 2010, it unveiled its uranium enrichment
factor. Until now, it has used plutonium in its nuclear devices.
- AFP/de
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