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U.N. nuclear watchdog could be in North Korea within weeks of a deal

03 April 2019 07:18 (UTC +04:00)

The United Nations atomic watchdog said on Tuesday that if a deal was reached with North Korea to give up its nuclear program then it would be ready to send in inspectors within weeks - if asked - to verify and monitor denuclearization, ONA reports quoting Reuters.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Yukiya Amano told the U.N. Security Council that the IAEA was the only international organization equipped to carry out the job “in an impartial, independent and objective manner.”

“Subject to the approval of our Board of Governors, we could respond within weeks to any request to send inspectors back to the DPRK,” he told the 15-member council during a meeting on the Non-Proliferation Treaty. The official name of North Korea is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have met twice in the past year to discuss denuclearization. North Korea is under tough U.N. Security Council sanctions that have been steadily tightened since 2006 to choke off funding for Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

Trump and Kim last met in Vietnam in February, but the summit was cut short after they failed to reach a deal on the extent of economic sanctions relief for North Korea in exchange for steps to give up its nuclear program.