IAEA: EU Statement on report by the Director General on the implementation of safeguards in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea
IAEA Board of Governors
23-24 November 2006
Statement by Finland on behalf of the European Union
Item 3. (c) Report by the Director General on the implementation of safeguards in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea
1. I have the honour to take the floor on behalf of the European Union. The Acceding Countries Bulgaria and Romania, the Candidate Countries Turkey, Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, the EFTA countries Iceland and Liechtenstein, members of the European Economic Area, as well as Ukraine and Moldova align themselves with this statement.
2. The EU strongly condemns the test of a nuclear explosive device that was announced by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on 9 October 2006. This test, which was carried out in disregard of appeals from the international community, poses a danger to regional stability and represents a clear threat to international peace and security. It is a further violation by the DPRK of its non-proliferation obligations.
3. The EU remains seriously concerned by the fact that since December 2002, the nuclear activities of the DPRK have been outside IAEA verification and that the IAEA has been unable to draw any conclusions regarding the DPRK's nuclear activities.
4. The EU continues to urge the DPRK to comply with all its international commitments fully, unconditionally and without delay, in particular with its IAEA Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement under the NPT. The EU reiterates its call strongly urging the DPRK to abandon and completely dismantle all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programmes in a prompt, transparent, verifiable and irreversible manner. The EU further calls on the DPRK to sign and ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty without delay, to refrain from conducting any further nuclear test or missile launch, and to re-establish its commitments to a moratorium on missile launching.
5. The EU strongly supports all relevant UN Security Council Resolutions, notably Resolution 1718 adopted on 14 October and Resolution 1695 adopted on 15 July. The EU will fully implement the provisions of these resolutions.
6. The EU also gives its full support to the IAEA General Conference Resolution on the DPRK that was adopted by consensus on 22 September. The EU welcomes the continued readiness of the IAEA Secretariat to verify the DPRK nuclear programme.
7. The EU strongly urges the DPRK, in compliance with Resolutions 1718 and 1695, to return immediately to the Six-Party talks without preconditions and to implement the Joint Statement of September 2005. The EU welcomes the agreement reached in Beijing on 31 October between China, the DPRK and the U.S. to hold a new round of the Six-Party Talks in the near future. The EU will continue to actively support efforts towards denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and to resolve the DPRK nuclear issue in a peaceful manner.
* Croatia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.