Statement by the Press Secretary/Director-General for Press and Public Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on the Resolution of the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) Board of Governors concerning the Democratic People's Republic of Korea

November 29, 2002

1. The IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) Board of Governors adopted by consensus in Vienna on November 29 (local time) the resolution titled "Report by the Director General on the Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement between the Agency and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea". The Government of Japan welcomes the fact that the international community has been able to issue through this resolution in the IAEA a definitive message to North Korea.
   
   
2. The gist of this resolution is to express the consensus view of the IAEA Board of Governors vis-à-vis North Korea: that the uranium enrichment program and other covert nuclear activities by North Korea would constitute a violation of the North Korea's international commitments, including the North Korea's safeguards agreement with the IAEA pursuant to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT); that North Korea is urged to provide all relevant information concerning those activities as well as to give up any nuclear weapons program expeditiously and in a verifiable manner; and that North Korea is urged to cooperate with the IAEA for that end (inter alia responding to the letters sent by the IAEA requesting explanation on uranium enrichment, accepting IAEA's offer to dispatch senior officials to North Korea in order to clarify the uranium enrichment program.)
   The Government of Japan strongly hopes that North Korea will reflect on this resolution seriously and take concrete action promptly to dismantle its nuclear weapons program.
   
   
3. Japan as a responsible member of the IAEA Board of Governors intends to exert its efforts to peacefully resolve this issue in close cooperation with the other countries concerned and to continue strongly urging the North Korean side to make a positive response concerning its nuclear weapons program, utilizing such channels as the Japan-North Korea normalization talks and the Japan-North Korea security talks, in close cooperation with both the U.S. and the R.O.K.

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