South Korea’s Nuclear Experiments Have Nothing to Do with Development of Weapons

The border governors of the IAEA held a regular meeting on November 26 in Vienna, Austria and discussed whether to conclude the issue of South Korea’s nuclear materials experiments or to finalize it at the next border meeting

It is expected that whether the form of the text will be a statement of the director general or a summary report of the director general will be decided at the dawn of November 27 (Korean time).

The IAEA decided not to transfer the South Korean nuclear experiment issue to the U.N. Security Council, but it appears that the IAEA delivered an indirect warning message to South Korea since the IAEA expressed its concerns about the characteristics of the experiments and the fact that South Korea did not report the experiments to the IAEA.

Working-level people of the IAEA member countries examined the draft of the results paper on the South Korean nuclear experiments issue during the border meeting.

Since representatives of the member countries agreed that South Korea’s nuclear materials experiments have nothing to do with the development of nuclear weapons, it appears that the text of agreement based on the results report, which urges the confirmation of nuclear transparency, will be adopted after expressing their concerns about South Korea’s nuclear materials experiments.

Oh Joon, a government official from the Office of Policy Planning and International Organizations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and who attended the meeting, said prior to the meeting, “It is desirable that the U.S. government, which will evaluate South Korea’s measures after the fact in a positive way, should affirm this issue and report appropriately through normal inspection. I also expect the Korean government to conclude the issue by further confirmation of nuclear transparency.”

Dong-Keun Keum gold@donga.com