US: NK must talk to IAEA directly about nuke inspections

The U.S. said Monday in Washington that North Korea should tell the International Atomic Energy Agency directly about allowing nuclear inspectors back to the North.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said after a six-day trip to Pyongyang that the North will allow nuclear inspectors back to the communist country.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Philip Crowley told a briefing at the State Department, “As we’ve said all along, we’ll be guided by what North Korea does, not by what North Korea says it might do under certain circumstances.”

Given the string of broken promises by North Korea over the years, the department expressed caution in saying it should wait and see how the North acts.

“If North Korea resumes talks with the IAEA and allows the visit of nuclear inspectors, it certainly would be a positive step,” Crowley said. “But the key is following through and implementing that decision and meeting its international obligations of the 2005 joint statement.”

“We will be guided – as we’ve said all along we’ll be guided by what North Korea does, not by what it says publicly or tells a visitor like Governor Richardson,” he said.

“Governor Richardson is on a private visit. He did not ask our permission before he went, and we did not approve his visit. We would expect to get a report from him when he returns from North Korea, so we’ll have – we’ll gain a perspective as to what it was that North Korea told him.”

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