WAR.WIRE
ElBaradei, Japan share nuclear concerns about two Koreas, Iran
 TOKYO (AFP) Oct 07, 2004
 The head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency said Thursday he shares Japan's concerns about nuclear programmes in the two Koreas and Iran, and called the North Korean nuclear crisis the biggest challenge for his agency.

Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told Ichiro Aisawa, senior vice minister for foreign affairs, that the current regimes of nuclear nonproliferation are under threat, according to a diplomat at their meeting.

"For the IAEA and nuclear nonproliferation regimes, North Korea is the biggest challenge. We share the feeling (with Japan)," ElBaradei was quoted by the Japanese diplomat as telling Aisawa.

"We have no choice but to solve this problem through dialogue," ElBaradei said, according to the diplomat.

The IAEA chief also called on Iran to stop its uranium enrichment activities to gain the confidence of the international community. But he did not discuss the Iranian issue in detail with Aisawa, the diplomat said.

Aisawa said Japan, too, was concerned about Iran's resumption of uranium enrichment activities.

Earlier in the day, ElBaradei told Japanese reporters: "I am calling on them (Iran) obviously to fully suspend all enrichment-related activities as a confidence-building measure."

The IAEA board passed a resolution on September 18, calling on Tehran "immediately" to widen a suspension of enrichment to include all uranium enrichment-related activities -- such as making centrifuges, converting yellowcake into UF6 feed gas and constructing a heavy water reactor.

Iran, facing a November 25 deadline, risks being referred to the UN Security Council if it fails to comply. Iranian officials said they would not bow to international demands and were ready either for confrontation or negotiation.

ElBaradei said the IAEA was preparing to report on South Korea's shock revelations of past unauthorized nuclear experiments. "We are receiving good cooperation from the South Korean government," he was quoted as saying.

The IAEA sent inspectors to South Korea twice last month after Seoul revealed that its scientists secretly enriched a tiny amount of plutonium in 1982 and uranium in 2000.

South Korea said its laboratory experiments were not linked to nuclear weapons programs.

Aisawa said the international community faces new nuclear threats, such as terrorist activities and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

"We must jointly tackle these problems and together we can win," Aisawa told the IAEA chief.