*EPF501 11/29/2002
Text: U.S. Welcomes IAEA Resolution on North Korea's Nuclear Program
(Atomic energy agency urges North Korea to give up weapons program) (250)

The United States welcomes the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) resolution adopted November 29 that insists that North Korea end its nuclear weapons program and open its facilities to IAEA inspections.

Following is the text of a November 29 State Department statement on the IAEA's resolution:

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
November 29, 2002

STATEMENT BY PHILIP T. REEKER, DEPUTY SPOKESMAN

International Atomic Energy Agency Adopts Resolution on North Korea

We welcome the strong resolution that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors adopted by consensus today regarding North Korea's nuclear program. The resolution deplores North Korea's repeated public statements that it is entitled to possess nuclear weapons, which is contrary to its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The Board insisted that North Korea urgently and constructively cooperate with the IAEA in opening immediately all relevant facilities to IAEA inspections and safeguards and urged North Korea to give up any nuclear weapons program, expeditiously and in a verifiable manner.

This resolution sends a clear, strong and unmistakable signal that the international community will not tolerate a North Korean nuclear weapons program. North Korea must come into compliance with its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, including its safeguards agreement with the IAEA. Adoption of this resolution by the 35-member Board makes clear that North Korea's nuclear weapons ambitions and program are an issue between North Korea and the international community, not a bilateral issue with the United States, as the North Koreans like to portray it. (The text of the resolution is available at www.iaea.org.)

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(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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