The UN nuclear watchdog announced on Thursday that it had commenced talks with North Korea over Pyongyang's invitation for the organization to visit the country, three years after its inspectors were expelled from the pariah state.

"I can confirm that the IAEA has started consultations with the DPRK about its invitation," agency spokeswoman Gill Tudor said. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is the formal name for North Korea.

North Korea's overtures to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) seemed to be an attempt to appease its critics after it sparked controversy last week by announcing plans to launch a long-range rocket carrying a satellite. There were fears that the move would throw the nuclear moratorium deal North Korea had negotiated with the United States last month into jeopardy.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday that he would raise North Korea's planned rocket launch at a Seoul nuclear summit next week and expressed his "deep concern" over the development.

"I am going to discuss the issue with the president of the Republic of [South Korea] in Seoul and I will also engage with other leaders attending the nuclear summit," Ban said at a press conference in Malaysia.

North Korea has tested a nuclear device twice, but experts are skeptical about whether it has developed the capability to miniaturize an atomic bomb for a warhead.
The isolated Asian state is thought to have sufficient fissile material to create up to 12 nuclear bombs. In 2010 it sparked an international outcry when it revealed a uranium enrichment facility. This effectively opens up a second path to making an atomic weapon to North Korea, in addition to its current plutonium program.

Frosty US response

The US State Department said earlier this week that, in principle, it welcomed talks between the UN and North Korea. However, it maintained that the announcement of a satellite launch by North Korea last month would overshadow the development.

North Korea threw the IAEA out of North Korea a decade ago after its 1994 deal with the United States failed. It expelled the agency again in 2009, claiming the inspections it was undertaking were too intrusive.

Pyongyang has repeatedly reneged on previous agreements with the international community over its nuclear program, but some have raised questions about whether things will be different under the country's new leader, 28-year-old Kim Jong-un following the death of his father, Kim Jong-il.

It is not clear how much freedom the IAEA will have to carry out inspections, although North Korea has promised inspectors access to the country's Yongbyon nuclear complex to verify whether its moratorium on uranium enrichment has been honored. Inspectors have faced restrictions when operating in the country in the past.

Some analysts warn that North Korea may move its atomic activity to another location if the inspection deal goes ahead. A UN expert panel said last year that it is likely that the country has numerous covert enrichment-related facilities.

sej/ncy (AFP, Reuters)