NORTH KOREA: Withdrawal From NPT
Pyongyang's sudden ehroguHoa of tke aaclear Son-Proliferation Trtaey suggests it may hare feared that further IAEA access ta it, nuclear faciltnts would mult ia additional incrimimuing discoveries; the Wr* probably hope* that mahimg the aaaaanttmaml during Ota Team Spirit exercise win help justify Its claim that ItS threat.
North Korea announced today that it was withdrawing fromin order to defend the country's "supreme interest."comes in the wake of last monlh's IAEA Boardcalling on Pyongyang to grant IAEAto two suspected nuclear waste storage sites at theResearch Center. The IAEA believes the sites couldthat North Korea extracted more Plutonium from spentit declared to the IAEAJ
Comment: Although the IAEA had given P'yongyangccept special inspections of the two sites, severalhave dnven the North to act now. North Korea maythat withdrawing while the US-South Korean Teamwas in full swing would buttress iu argument that it isfacing the threat. In addition, P'vongyang may have feared1AKA access at Yongbyon would have uncovered
IAEA Director General Bli* probably will now convene asrx session of the IAEA Board of Governors to formally concludertn Korea is not in compliance with tts safeguards agreement and refer the matter to the UN Security Council. The North almost certainly expects this and may be waning t0 assess international reaction before deciding its next move.]"
Given theenchant for high-risk brinksmanship. it mayconcocting orilitary incident along theTeam Spirit as -proof' of US
yesterday accused the US of bringing heavy weapons closer to the line than allowed under the armistice agreement
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