UN nuclear agency gives North Korea a second chance

THE UN nuclear agency decided yesterday against reporting North Korea’s defiance to the Security Council, giving the isolated communist country another chance to abandon its covert weapons programme and readmit inspectors.

The United States welcomed the decision, which came amid a new diplomatic push to resolve the crisis. North Korea last month threw out UN nuclear inspectors and began reviving a nuclear complex that experts say could be used to produce weapons within months.

Reporting the North’s defiance to the Security Council could lead to punitive sanctions or other action against Pyongyang. However, if the North does not reverse course on its nuclear programme, the International Atomic Energy Agency will turn to the council, IAEA general director Mohamed ElBaradei told a news conference after an emergency session of the agency’s 35-nation board of governors. “The matter will be referred to the Security Council” if North Korea does not comply, he said. “I hope (North Korea) will seize this opportunity. Compliance and not defiance is the way towards a solution.”