IAEA Urged North Korea to Accept Inspectors’ Return

IAEA Director General Dr. Mohamed El-Baradei urged North Korea to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to return as soon as possible on March 15.

“We know that Dr. Abdul Kadir Khan, a Pakistani scientist and the moving spirit of the black market, said that some of the uranium enrichment equipment was delivered to North Korea,” IAEA Director General Dr. Mohamed El-Baradei said to journalists during his visit to Washington after meeting Senator Richard Lugar.

He said, “I hope that the inspectors will be able to visit North Korea and verify that it has only a nuclear program for the purpose of peace. North Korea can participate in the international community as a responsible member if the international inspection is carried out in North Korea.”

North Korea expelled IAEA inspectors in December 2002 and withdrew from Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in January 2003.