Raphael Grossi, New IAEA Director General: "US Has Not Given Up on Negotiations with North Korea"

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said, "I have learned that the United States has not given up on denuclearization talks with North Korea," according to a report by Radio Free Asia (RFA) on the 5th (local time).

The newly appointed Director General Grossi revealed this during a lecture held at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP), a private research institution in Washington DC, where he met with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during his visit to the U.S. He added, "If a denuclearization agreement between North Korea and the U.S. is reached, the IAEA will conduct reliable, independent, and accurate verification."

Regarding North Korea, he pointed out that it currently possesses nuclear weapons illegally. He mentioned that recognizing North Korea as a nuclear-armed state is a legal issue related to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and since the IAEA inspection team was expelled from North Korea in 2009, the number of nuclear facilities there has increased, making verification activities difficult.

Director General Grossi explained, "Since the NPT recognizes only a few countries as legitimate nuclear-armed states, for North Korea to be recognized as a legitimate nuclear-armed state, the treaty would have to be amended through a United Nations (UN) Security Council resolution, but that is unlikely."

North Korea officially joined the IAEA in September 1974 but experienced several conflicts with the agency and withdrew in June 1994. It initially joined the NPT in 1985 but withdrew in 2003.

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