Icon of North Korea’s Nuclear Program Demolished

North Korea destroyed the cooling tower attached to its nuclear reactor in Yongbyon, Friday.

MBC, invited by North Korea to the scene, reported, “North Korea blew up the cooling tower of the Yongbyon reactor at around 4 p.m.”

Sung Kim of the U.S. State Department’s Office of Korean Affairs, a senior officer of North Korea’s Foreign Ministry, and media correspondents from the member countries of the six-party talks watched the explosion.

The scene was initially planned to be broadcast live across the world through such media as CNN. However, the scene was not carried live due to a lack of equipment to send satellite images.

As North Korea handed over its declaration of nuclear programs and demolished the cooling tower attached to the nuclear reactor in Yongbyon, and the United States has made steps to remove North Korea from the list of terrorism-sponsoring nations, the six-party talks will be resumed soon to discuss ways to verify North Korea’s declaration.

As China, the host of the multilateral talks, has discussed when to resume the meeting with member states, the six-party talks are highly likely to take place next week.

Korea’s Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hwan said, “The Korean government received the declaration via the Korean embassy in China. Member states are trying to set a date for the multilateral talks and hope to have a meeting in early July.”

A senior officer of the Foreign Ministry said, “I think the six-party talks will resume next week. Generally, a new session of the six-party talks takes around two or three days. However, I hope all the member parties will fully express their opinion even if it takes much longer than that.”

Presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan, said, “The Korean government considers North Korea’s nuclear declaration as significant progress towards the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and the demolition of the cooling tower as a political and symbolic step to prove North Korea’s nuclear disablement.”

China’s People’s Daily, the ruling Communist Party’s mouthpiece, released a commentary in which it said North Korea made a significant step to resolving international tension surrounding its nuclear programs, drawing much attention from international society.

jin0619@donga.com