Stewart Stogel
Monday, July 16, 2007

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NEW YORK -- The North Korean announcement that it shut down its controversial "nuclear research" reactor at Yongbyon is being taken with skepticism.

Dimitri Perricos, former U.N.-Iraq chief arms inspector and a 25-year veteran of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the U.N.'s atomic watchdog, is playing down the North Korean move.

It was Perricos, who, as a senior IAEA inspector, is credited with uncovering the secret North Korean nuclear project back in 1991.

It was Perricos, who led the IAEA team that supervised a previous "shutdown" of the very same reactor in 1994.

The shutdown was part of an agreement with the Clinton administration called "the Agreed Framework."

Under that agreement, Pyongyang was to receive fuel oil and the construction of two new light-water nuclear reactors for shutting down the Yongbyon reactor.

Light-water reactors would provide North Korea with energy, but are of little use to fuel a nuclear weapon.

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That agreement eventually broke down and North Korea restarted the reactor in 2003. It subsequently exploded a crude nuclear device last year.

The CIA estimates that Yongbyon had produced enough fuel for six to 10 nuclear bombs.

The disposition of those "suspected" bombs has not yet been addressed by the U.S. and North Korea.

Speaking to NewsMax, Perricos cautioned that a simple reactor "shutdown" is not as important as it may appear.

"Have they permanently disabled the reactor? I don't think so," he explained.

The IAEA veteran elaborated:

"To disable the reactor would mean something like filling the (nuclear) core (vessel) with concrete, so the reactor could not be restarted."

According to Perricos, the DPRK has not agreed to permanently "disable" its reactor and that could portend future problems.

"We are back to where we are in 1994, I don't see much difference," he cautioned.

Perricos' concerns were echoed by the current US-North Korea negotiator Chris Hill.

Hill told reporters that intends to open negotiations with Pyongyang next month on moves to "permanently" disable the Yongbyon reactor.

The veteran U.S. diplomat added that he hoped actions to kill the reactor once and for all could be completed by "the end of the year."

© NewsMax 2007. All rights reserved.

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