G8 Urges Comprehensive Dismantlement of North Korea’s Nuclear Programs

At the second day of the G8 Summit held at Sea Island, Georgia, US., the G8 leaders adopted a joint statement that strongly urged a complete dismantlement of North Korea’s nuclear programs and promised to support six-way talks to resolve the issue.

The leaders from the eight industrialized countries urged the comprehensive, verifiable, and irreversible dismantlement (CVID) of all nuclear programs, saying that the history of the North’s missile proliferation has been a serious concern for all. The leaders also called for dismantlement at last year’s summit. They also pointed out that the North’s continuous pursuit of nuclear weapons by plutonium reprocessing and uranium enrichment is a breach of international obligations. The joint statement reconfirmed that CVID should be the precondition to the comprehensive and peaceful resolution of North Korea’s nuclear issue.

In addition, G8 urged to set international rules restricting access to uranium enrichment and reprocessing technology in a year and to refrain from related technology transfer, in order to prevent the WMD proliferation.

Seven nations, including Korea and Australia, were welcomed in the joint statement to join the Global Partnership against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction.

Soon-Taek Kwon maypole@donga.com