Completion of inspections urged.

• Position: UN Security Council seeks completion of International Atomic Energy Agency investigation into North Korea's development of nuclear weapons

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) was called upon by the Security Council on 31 March to allow the inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to complete the inspection activities agreed to by the Agency and the People's Republic on 15 February.

That would be a step in fulfilling DPRK's obligations under its safeguard agreement with IAEA and under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), the Council said in a statement by its President Jean-Bernard Merimee of France.

The Council also expressed its concern that JAEA had been "unable to draw conclusions" as to whether there had been "either diversion of nuclear material or reprocessing or other operations" in DPRK. It invited the Director-General to further report on the question of completion of the inspection activities when he is scheduled to report on the follow-on inspections required to "maintain continuity of safeguards" and verify that there had been "no diversion of nuclear material required to be safeguarded".

DPRK and the Republic of Korea were asked to renew discussions on the implementation of the joint Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. The Council appealed to Member States engaged in dialogue with the People's Republic to continue that dialogue. The Council would further consider the matter if necessary "in order to achieve full implementation of the IAEA-DPRK safeguards agreement"

Deep appreciation was expressed for IAEA efforts to implement the safeguards agreement.

|Further non-compliance'

The Agency's Board of Governors stated in a 21 March resolution that DPRK was "in further noncompliance" with its safeguards agreement and had aggravated the situation by not allowing IAEA inspectors to conduct "indispensable inspection activities". The Board regretted the stalemate in the Agency's efforts to resolve the safeguards issue, which it said was "due to the lack of cooperation" on the part of the DPRK.

As agreed by the Agency and the People's Republic, an IAEA inspection team visited DPRK from 1 to 15 March, IAEA Director-General Hans Blix reported (A/49/97-S/1994/322) on 22 March.

Inspection activities had proceeded "without difficulty at all facilities except the radiochemical laboratory". For the first time, the inspectors had been able to perform a "physical inventory verification" of the nuclear material at the fuel-rod fabrication plant, Mr. Blix said.

Difficulties at the radiochemical...