IAEA Report States “Korea Produced ‘Close to Weapons Grade’ Atomic Material”

It was found on Thursday, November 11 that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) completed its report and distributed it to the member countries on its board of governors, saying that Korea produced “close to weapons grade” nuclear material in its secret lab tests, but that the amount was very small.

The AFP described that the IAEA stated that it was “a matter of serious concern” that the Korean government failed to report at the right time.

Accordingly, the Korean government, which had hoped for an early end at the IAEA board meeting of November 25, cannot exclude the possibility that the case may be passed on to the U.N. Security Council.

However, there were no such expressions such as “nonfulfillment of nuclear safety measures,” which would imply a serious violation, and so the final decision may not even be made in the board meeting coming up on November 25.

The AFP reported that the IAEA report stated that there are still matters and materials to be confirmed in order to draw up a complete and accurate final report.

Jung-Ahn Kim credo@donga.com