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N. Korea withdraws from nuclear treatyNation says it will not produce nuclear weapons
SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- Accusing the United States of provocation, North Korea announced Friday it was withdrawing from the nuclear nonproliferation treaty but does not intend to produce nuclear weapons. In the United States, New Mexico's Gov. Bill Richardson on Friday prepared for a second round of talks with top diplomats from North Korea. (Full story) A statement from the official North Korean news agency KCNA said Pyongyang "declares its total freedom from the binding force of the safeguards accord with the International Atomic Energy Agency." Despite its pullout from the NPT, North Korea pledged to limit its nuclear activities to "peaceful purposes." Richardson, whose meetings with diplomats are set in New Mexico, has experience with North Korea from past service as ambassador to the United Nations and as the U.S. energy secretary under the Clinton administration. 1994 FrameworkUnder the 1994 Agreed Framework, Pyongyang had agreed to abandon its nuclear weapons program in return for aid from the United States, Japan and South Korea. Pyongyang maintains it was forced to restart its nuclear plants to provide fuel after Washington stopped sending fuel shipments to North Korea, which it said was a violation of the agreement. However, Washington says it stopped sending the fuel after North Korea disclosed it had a nuclear weapons program in October. North Korea put the blame squarely on the United States for its latest move. A separate statement obtained Friday by Interfax from the North Korean Embassy in Moscow said, "Although we are withdrawing from the treaty, we have no intention of producing nuclear weapons and our nuclear activities at this stage are limited to peaceful purposes, above all electrical energy production." It added, "If the U.S. stops its hostile policy and stops threatening us with nuclear action, then we will not rule out the possibility of proving that we are not producing nuclear weapons by allowing a separate inspection between North Korea and U.S." North Korea's withdrawal from the treaty is "a proper self-defense measure in response to attempts made by the U.S. to crush our republic and the negative actions from the IAEA following [the U.S.] lead," the statement said. Diplomatic quagmireNorth Korea blamed the United States and the IAEA for "pushing North Korea to withdraw from the treaty." "The IAEA is still acting ... for the U.S. and the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons is being used as a tool to implement the anti-Korean hostile policy of the U.S., which is aimed at disarming us by military methods and destroying our social system," the document said. The United States "is internationalizing the campaign" for the destruction of North Korea, the document said. "As a result, it has become common practice to declare a war against North Korea, and the recent possibility of a peaceful and fair settlement of the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula has disappeared," the statement said. The dispute has devolved into a diplomatic quagmire which only deepened with Pyongyang's announcement Friday. Last week, North Korea expelled the last two international nuclear monitors from the country. This week, the IAEA said North Korea has just weeks to readmit the weapons inspectors before the matter is referred to the United Nations Security Council. The IAEA's governing board, which includes representatives of 35 nations, said North Korea could face "serious consequences, not unlike Iraq," if it continues to defy the world community. The resolution did not impose a deadline or offer a timeline for when North Korea must comply. However, IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said Tuesday the timeline is a "matter of weeks and no longer." The NPT is an international treaty that took force in 1970, encompassing 187 parties, including the five nuclear-weapon states. It is designed to "prevent the spread of nuclear weapons technology, to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and to further the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament and general and complete disarmament," according to the United Nations.
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