UN Nuke Chief ElBaradei Heads to South Korea, Japan
Date: 04-Oct-04
Country: AUSTRIA
Author: Louis Charbonneau
After completing talks with South Korean officials, the 61-year-old head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) departs for Tokyo Wednesday, an IAEA spokeswoman said.
"He'll be in Tokyo when the Nobel Peace Prize is announced Friday," IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said. Nominated jointly, ElBaradei and the IAEA are one of the favorites for the prize.
South Korea recently acknowledged that scientists enriched a small amount of uranium in 2000 and separated plutonium in 1982 without government knowledge or approval. Diplomats have said that some of the uranium was close to the purity needed for an atom bomb. Plutonium can also be used in a bomb.
ElBaradei will be discussing the IAEA's preliminary findings in Seoul. Agency inspectors, who were in South Korea last week to take environmental samples and interview scientists, will submit a report to the IAEA board of governors next month, after which South Korea hopes the case will be closed.
Some diplomats on the board have said South Korea's failure to report the experiments was a violation of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and should be reported to the U.N. Security Council.
ElBaradei's visit to Asia is his first official trip since he announced his desire to remain at the helm of the U.N. agency for a third term. The United States is against his candidacy, but diplomats in Vienna said ElBaradei hoped to confirm the support of Seoul and Tokyo during the trip.
ELBARADEI WAS IMPLORED TO STAY
"Many member countries implored me to continue and complete several pending issues such as the Iranian nuclear file and those of Iraq and North Korea ... (and) build a more effective system to combat the nuclear black market," the Egyptian diplomat told the Arabic newspaper Asharq al-Awsat.
ElBaradei, a lawyer who has been at the IAEA for two decades and has headed it since 1997, said he would have preferred not to seek another term as the IAEA's director general.
"I would like to bring all these issues to a close. But from a personal point of view, I would be a lot more relaxed if I left. I would be more comfortable physically, mentally and financially, and I see my continuation as a form a sacrifice."
ElBaradei has the backing of a majority of the IAEA's member states, but he will face strong opposition from Washington.
Officially the United States says it opposes any official remaining at the head of a U.N. agency beyond a second term. Unofficially, Washington is unhappy with his performance and wants him out, diplomats in Vienna say.
U.S. Under Secretary of State for arms control and international security John Bolton made it clear last week that U.S. frustration with the U.N., which has been unable to contain the Iranian and North Korean nuclear programs, runs deep.
"There is ... enormous frustration on many occasions within the American body politic about the ineffectiveness and inefficiency of U.N. agencies," Bolton said in a speech.
Bolton, who has repeatedly criticized the IAEA for not reporting Iran to the Security Council for concealing its uranium enrichment program for 18 years, has told the IAEA that Washington opposes a new term for ElBaradei, diplomats say. (Additional reporting by Miral Fahmy in Dubai)
