North Korea Special Collection

IAEA-North Korea: Nuclear Safeguards and Inspections 1997-1999

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17 March 1997

IAEA Director General Hans Blix says that talks between the IAEA and North Korea over the suspected North Korean nuclear program have stalled.

AFP (Paris), 17 March 1997; in FBIS-TAC-97-076, 17 March 1997.

1 June 1997

After reviewing the implementation of the IAEA safeguards in 1996 with North Korea, the IAEA Board of Governors reports that it is still unable to verify the initial declaration made by North Korea, and that North Korea still remains in non-compliance of its nuclear safeguards agreement.

Disarmament Diplomacy, June 1997, p.32.

17 March 1998

North Korea refuses to cooperate with IAEA inspectors, citing delays in the implementation of the 1994 US-North Korean Agreed Framework. IAEA inspectors are prevented from taking samples of nuclear waste. Inspectors are also barred from taking samples from the high-temperature water plant of the 5MW gas-graphite reactor.

Korean Overseas Information Services, 17 March 1998.

19 April 1998

North Korea unseals its 5MW gas-graphite reactor for maintenance purposes.

South China Morning Post (Hong Kong), 14 May 1998, <http://www.scmp.com>.

14 May 1998

North Korea's ambassador to China, Chu Chang-jun, says that pressure is growing in North Korea to reopen the sealed 5MW gas-graphite reactor. Ambassador Chu also indicates that North Korea is angry with the United States for the delays in heavy-fuel oil shipments.

Kevin Sullivan, Washington Post, 15 May 1998, <http://www.washingtonpost.com>.

14 May 1998

The US state department and South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs announce that the IAEA has confirmed that the seals on the 5MW gas-graphite reactor remain in place.

NAPSNet Daily Report, 14 May 1998, <http//www.nautilus.org>.

24 June 1998

IAEA inspectors arrive in North Korea to negotiate the implementation of the inspection regime agreed under the 1994 Agreed Framework.

Inquisit, 24 June 1998, <http://www.inquisit.com>.

15 July 1998

A US General Accounting Office (GAO) report says that there are many monitoring problems that affect the IAEA's "ability to ensure that North Korea is complying fully with certain aspects of the nuclear freeze." North Korea has not allowed the IAEA to install monitoring devices in the nuclear waste tanks. The tanks are connected to a "complex and inaccessible piping system that, if operating, would permit the waste to be removed and/or altered." The GAO report warns that North Korea may have "secretly removed some of the nuclear waste in order to hide evidence of earlier diversions of plutonium."

Philip Shenon, New York Times, 15 July 1998, <http/www.nytimes.com>.

6 September 1998

The CIA suspects that North Korea has dumped liquid plutonium waste on the grounds of its Yongbyon nuclear facility. The liquid plutonium waste is believed to have been stored underground in unsuitable storage tanks which could leak. The CIA believes that North Korea used these containers in an effort to hide the plutonium waste from IAEA inspectors.

Newsweek, 6 September 1998.

10 September 1998

North Korea pledges to resume packing its spent fuel rods.

US-Korea Review, September/October 1998, p.12.

28 September 1998

US government sources confirm that North Korea has resumed packing its nuclear spent fuel rods in containers.

Inquisit, 29 September 1998, <http://www.inquisit.com>.

12 November 1998

According to senior US officials, North Korea's failure to allow the IAEA to inspect suspected nuclear sites could result in the collapse of the 1994 Agreed Framework. If North Korea continues to refuse inspections, the United States would be unable to "sustain obligations under the Agreed Framework."

Reuters, 12 November 1998; in Washington Times, 12 November 1998; Jane A. Morse, Northeast Asia Peace and Security Network, <http://www.nautilus.org/napsnet>; South China Morning Post (Hong Kong), 12 November 1998, <http://www.scmp.com>.

29 November 1998

After meeting with South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, IAEA Director General Mohamed El Baradei calls on North Korea to open suspected nuclear sites for IAEA inspection.

NAPSNet Daily Report, 30 November 1998, <http://www.nautilus.org/napsnet>; in Chosun Ilbo (Seoul), 30 November 1998.

13 March 1999

A South Korean official in the Planning Office for the North Korean light-water reactor project says that the packing of the nuclear spent fuel rods from the 5MW gas-graphite reactor at Yongbyon will be complete sometime in May or June 1999.

Chungang Ilbo (Seoul), 13 March 1999, <http:www.joonggang.co.kr>; in FBIS Document FTS19990314000166.

24 March 1999

IAEA officials report that critical parts of the North Korean 50MW gas-graphite reactor at Yongbyon have been missing since 1994 when IAEA inspectors first arrived at the site. The parts are vital for controlling the nuclear reaction in the reactor's graphite core. The equipment can be used in the construction of another nuclear reactor.

Stewart Stogel and Ben Barber, Washington Times, 24 March 1999, p.3.

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

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