North Korea on Tuesday ordered international nuclear inspectors out of the country and said it would “never again” take part in denuclearization talks, dealing a harsh, early setback to the Obama administration’s efforts to disarm the defiant regime.
The government took a series of steps, including an announcement that it would resume building nuclear weapons, in a strident reaction to a UN rebuke that had been requested by the Obama administration. The White House said North Korea had taken “a serious step in the wrong direction” but offered no guidance Tuesday on how it plans to restart the long-stalled drive to abolish Pyongyang’s nuclear program.
However, analysts said the developments could force U.S. officials to take steps they have long avoided, such as approaching North Korea with one-on-one negotiations to rekindle broader negotiations involving China, Russia, Japan, the United States and North and South Korea, a process known as the six-party talks.
The North Koreans took the formal step Tuesday of giving official notice to the UN’s nuclear watchdog agency that it wanted its inspectors to leave and disclosed plans to restart its plutonium production facility.
“There is no need for six-party talks anymore,” said a statement by the North Korean Foreign Ministry.
Despite the ominous developments and the difficulty it created for the Obama administration, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the administration was “quite pleased” with UN Security Council’s statement Monday.
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Nonetheless, some officials acknowledged that the six-party talks that have been the administration’s top goal were likely to be suspended indefinitely.
U.S. officials have been urging Security Council members for more than a week to condemn the launch, which it viewed as a test of Pyongyang’s intercontinental missile capability and a breach of Security Council resolutions. North Korean officials contended the launch was legal and intended only to boost a communications satellite into orbit.
U.S. military and intelligence officials have said that if there was a satellite on the rocket, it did not make it to orbit, contradicting North Korean declarations that the orbiter was broadcasting patriotic music to Earth.
Initially, China and Russia resisted efforts to censure the North Koreans. However, U.S., Japanese and other diplomats succeeded Monday in persuading all 15 Security Council members to agree to a compromise in the form of a non-binding statement that chastised Pyongyang for violating UN resolutions.
The White House deplored North Korea’s vow to withdraw from the talks and restart its nuclear program. “We call on North Korea to cease its provocative threats,” Gibbs said.
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Pyongyang defiant
See a video report on North Korea’s latest decision at chicagotribune.com/nkorea