revistaieee7

Alfonso Iglesias Velasco and Anass Gouyez Ben Allal
The role of the United Nations...
substantially augmented (as in the case of the other states that had ratified it), since
the investigation was able to be extended to potentially undeclared activities. The
Additional Protocol provides for an intensification of verification measures, extending
these to the entire nuclear production cycle (uranium mines, all types of nuclear materials,
residues and installations related directly or indirectly to the process), and the
gathering of more detailed information to allow the inspectors to access all infrastructure,
including environmental sampling. 49
The role of the Security Council in the light of North Korea’s nuclear
programme
North Korea has demonstrated that it possesses nuclear capacity. Despite international
pressure, the government in Pyongyang was certain that obtaining military nuclear capacity
was just a matter of time. One may consider that the origin of the North Korean nuclear
programme seems to follow a lawful process adjusted to international standards. However,
IAEA inspections soon discovered contradictions between North Korean government reports
and the data it obtained through its own sources. The international inspections undertaken
until 2002 proved the accusations of other countries (such as the United States),
and concluded that North Korea had not given up on its military nuclear plans.
From December 2002, the government in Pyongyang opposed any IAEA inspection,
in clear violation of the NPT.
In January 2003, North Korea announced it was to withdraw from the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty after declaring that it had sufficient capacity to produce nuclear
bombs. 50 The government of the country once again advanced its argument of
the prior notice presented to the Security Council in 1993, the perceived threat to its
survival represented by United States pressure, and the military manoeuvres carried
out by the superpower in the region together with South Korea. 51
The growing demands from US that were provoked by the change in attitude of
the North Korean regime only served to justify its perception of feeling threatened.
49 SALAZAR SERANTES, Gonzalo de. ‘El nuevo desafío: la proliferación nuclear en el umbral del
siglo XXI’, Documentos CIDOB. Seguridad y Política Mundial, no. 4, 2004, p.15.
50 North Korea had acceded to the NPT on 12 December 1985. On 10 January 2003 it announced
its withdrawal from this treaty in a public declaration. Yet the state parties to the NPT continue to
express differing opinions about the real status of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea under
the NPT. See the following link on the United Nations website
http://disarmament.un.org/treaties/a/npt/democraticpeoplesrepublicofkorea/acc/moscow
51 Letter from the Permanent Representative of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to the
United Nations of 12 March 1993 addressed to the President of the Security Council (doc.S/2003/91,
Annex 1, p. 2).
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