North Korea Special Collection

IAEA-North Korea: Nuclear Safeguards and Inspections 1990

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1990

The Soviet Union halts exports of nuclear equipment and fuel to North Korea after warning it to accept full-scope IAEA safeguards.

Naoaki Usui, Nucleonics Week, 30 May 1991, pp.17-18.

February 1990

The IAEA Board of Governors advises North Korea to sign the Full-Scale Safety Measure Agreement by June 1990. If signed, the agreement will confirm that North Korea has a nuclear development capability.

Seoul Sinmun (Seoul), 7 March 1990, p.2.

February 1990

At an IAEA council meeting, Australia and 20 other countries propose a resolution asking North Korea to sign the IAEA safeguards agreement. Prior to the proposal, South Korea requests that the IAEA "take punitive measures against North Korea."

Choe Maeng-ho, Tong-A Ilbo (Seoul), June 1991, p.1.

February 1990

North Korea announces that it will accept inspections of its nuclear facilities and sign the IAEA safeguards agreement if the United States removes its nuclear weapons stationed in South Korea.

Yi Chun-pal, Seoul Domestic Service, 14 February 1990.

February 1990

North Korea’s representative to the IAEA, Yun Ho-jin, lists North Korea’s conditions for signing the IAEA safeguards agreement. They include: (1) all US nuclear weapons be removed from South Korea, (2) the US-South Korean Team Spirit military exercises be discontinued, and (3) North Korea be allowed to declare the safeguards agreement "null and void, depending on [its] evaluation of the attitudes" of nuclear weapon states.

Song Yong-son, Sindong-A (Seoul), August 1990, pp.206-215.

10 February 1990

Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze announces that North Korea is very close to concluding a nuclear safeguards agreement with the IAEA. North Korea says however, that it will not sign the agreement until the United States removes nuclear weapons from South Korea. The United States rejects this demand due to North Korea’s larger conventional forces on the Peninsula.

Andrew Mack, Far Eastern Economic Review, 31 May 1990, p.24; G. Petrov, Rabochaya Tribuna (Moscow), 4 March 1990, p.3.

1 April 1990

North Korea says that it will allow international inspections and become a member of an international inspection system by the end of 1990.

O Tae-chin, Chosun Ilbo (Seoul), 3 April 1990, p.3.

15 April 1990

According to a source from the Japanese Foreign Ministry, North Korea is demanding that nuclear-possessing countries sign a treaty with non-nuclear possessing countries stating that the former will not use nuclear weapons against the latter. North Korea says that in return for this treaty, it will allow verification of its facilities. International experts believe that North Korea’s request is merely a delaying tactic to allow it to develop nuclear weapons.

Yi Yun-song, Seoul Television Service (Seoul), 15 April 1990.

18 April 1990

According to Deputy Director General of the IAEA, Boris Semenov, North Korea will sign the IAEA safeguards agreement by September 1990.

Yonhap (Seoul), 18 April 1990.

14 June 1990

South Korea’s Minister of Science and Technology Chong Kun-mo says that North Korea has notified the IAEA that it will send a delegation to the IAEA in July 1990 to discuss signing the safeguards agreement.

Yi Chang-sun, Seoul Sinmun (Seoul), 19 June 1990, p.5.

15 June 1990

South Korea’s Minister of Science and Technology Chong Kun-mo announces that South Korea will assist North Korea in constructing the 1760MW nuclear power plant after North Korea signs the IAEA safeguards agreement in July 1990. He also announces that IAEA member countries will adopt a resolution asking North Korea to sign the safeguards agreement if it has not done so by July 1990.

Margaret L. Ryan, Nucleonics Week, 21 June 1990, pp.7-8; Nuclear Developments, 28 June 1990, p.7; Yonhap (Seoul), 16 June 1990.

July 1990

US President George Bush demands that North Korea sign the IAEA safeguards agreement. The North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that it is prepared to sign the agreement if the United States removes its nuclear threat to North Korea.

Korean Central News Agency (Pyongyang), 16 July 1990.

July 1990

According to a US nuclear expert, the Soviet Union recently suspended funding for North Korea’s 1760MW nuclear power plant. It is suspected that the suspension will continue until North Korea signs the IAEA safeguards agreement.

Yi Nak-yon, Tong-A Ilbo (Seoul), 21 July 1990, p.2.

21 July 1990

North Korea proposes direct talks with the United States as a condition for agreeing to IAEA on-site inspections. North Korea says that it will sign the IAEA’s safeguards agreement if the United States: (1) promises not to launch a nuclear attack against it, and (2) withdraws nuclear weapons from South Korea.

Kyodo (Tokyo), 21 July 1990.

23 August 1990

At the Nuclear Nonproliferation Review Conference, Algeria, Chile, Cuba, Myanmar (Burma), Tanzania, the United Arab Emirates, and Zimbabwe express concern that North Korea has not signed the IAEA safeguards agreement.

Japan Times (Tokyo), 25 August 1990.

September 1990

North Korean President Kim Il-sung declines to discuss North Korea’s refusal to sign the IAEA safeguards agreement with Japan’s former Deputy Prime Minister Shin Kanemaru and Vice Chairman of the Japanese Socialist Party Makoto Tanabe. He does, however, say that if North Korea is to be subject to inspections, then so should South Korea. The Soviet Union and the United States continue to urge North Korea to sign the IAEA safeguards agreement. North Korea responds by criticizing the United States for posing a nuclear threat and calls for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Kyodo (Tokyo), 26 September 1990.

8 November 1990

According to IAEA Director General Hans Blix, North Korea is likely to sign the safeguards agreement within the next six months because there is "nothing left to discuss" in the ongoing negotiations.

Nucleonics Week, 8 November 1990, pp.14-15.

17 November 1990

According to a North Korean foreign ministry statement released by the North Korean Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations, North Korea will accept the IAEA safeguards agreement after (1) the Korean Peninsula is transformed into a nuclear-weapons-free zone, and (2) the United States withdraws its nuclear forces from the region. The statement also says that North Korea "can sign a nuclear safeguards agreement only on condition that the United States gives legal assurances that it would not resort" to threats of nuclear use.

Leonard S. Spector and Jacqueline R. Smith, Arms Control Today, March 1991, p.10.

24 November 1990

Following the US-IAEA-North Korean meeting in China, US Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Richard Solomon receives a report which states that North Korea may sign the IAEA safeguards agreement in order to improve relations with the United States and Japan.

Jane’s Defence Weekly, 24 November 1990, p.1019.

Acknowledgements:
Brooke Milton and Gaurav Kampani
© Center for Nonproliferation Studies,
Monterey Institute of International Studies

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