North Korea Special Collection

IAEA-North Korea: Nuclear Safeguards and Inspections 1996

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23 January 1996

An IAEA delegation arrives in Pyongyang to continue talks on North Korea's suspended nuclear operations. Talks conclude on 29 January 1996 and North Korea agrees that the IAEA can conduct routine and ad hoc inspections of its operational nuclear sites.

Reuters, 23 January 1996; Korean Central Broadcasting Network (Pyongyang), 30 January 1996; in FBIS-EAS-96-021, 30 January 1996.

18 March 1996

IAEA Director General Hans Blix tells the IAEA Board of Governors that North Korea is not cooperating with IAEA efforts to ascertain the quantity of plutonium held at the Yongbyon nuclear facility. IAEA inspectors have made a number of attempts to photograph the facility since September 1995, in accordance with agreements reached with North Korea. However, they have been restricted from taking photographs. North Korea has also been slow in granting visas for IAEA inspectors.

Reuters, 18 March 1996.

2 May 1996

IAEA spokesman David Kyd reveals that North Korea began storing the 8,000 nuclear spent fuel rods on 27 April 1996. North Korean officials, however, have refused to let IAEA inspectors measure the plutonium levels in the rods. Kyd says that four IAEA inspectors, including a radioactivity expert, are involved in the storage process. The inspectors have only been allowed to verify whether the fuel rods have been "burnt." The IAEA has estimated that the storage of the 8,000 fuel rods will be completed by June 1997. The IAEA will continue to seek authorization to measure the plutonium through negotiations with North Korea.

KBS-1 Radio Network (Seoul), 2 May 1996; in FBIS-EAS-96-087, 2 May 1996; Washington Times, 3 May 1996, p.A15; Nuclear News, April 1996, p.14.

25 June 1996

IAEA representatives arrive in Pyongyang for the fifth round of talks with North Korea.

Korean Central News Agency (Pyongyang), 25 June 1996; in FBIS-EAS-96-123, 25 June 1996.

August 1996

An IAEA safeguards report not released to the public says that the IAEA is unable to verify North Korea's initial declaration under the NPT.

NuclearFuel, 12 August 1996, p.15.

16 September 1996

During the IAEA's Annual General Conference in Vienna, IAEA Director General Hans Blix confirms that the 1995 Safeguards Implementation Report states that "the IAEA remained unable to verify the initial declaration of nuclear materials made by [North Korea]...and that this is still the case."

IAEA Daily Press Report, 22 October 1996, pp. 1-3.

17 September 1996

North Korea's representative to the UN agencies in Vienna states that North Korea "will not give the IAEA any information whatsoever" about spent fuel from its 5MW gas-graphite reactor "until the new reactors are finished and begin operating."

NuclearFuel, 23 September 1996, p.3.

19-27 September 1996

The IAEA's safeguards department and North Korea hold negotiations in Vienna. The IAEA fails to persuade North Korea to comply with its bilateral safeguards agreement.

NuclearFuel, 23 September 1996, pp.1-2.

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

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