Two UN nuclear inspectors expelled by North Korea arrived in China yesterday, leaving behind a hidden nuclear program the international community fears will be used to build plutonium-based weapons.
The inspectors -- a Lebanese man and a Chinese woman -- emerged from the arrival hall at Beijing's Capital Airport after flying from Pyongyang shortly after 10am. They refused to discuss the North Korean situation, saying they were on their way to the International Atomic Energy Agency's headquarters in Vienna.
"We cannot comment on anything at this stage," the man said, mobbed by reporters.
North Korea ordered the expulsion of the two UN monitors on Friday. With their departure, satellites are the only available tools to monitor the isolated communist nation's nuclear program, a South Korea Foreign Ministry official said yesterday.
The expulsions crippled efforts to monitor whether the reclusive nation is making atomic weapons, an IAEA spokeswoman said.
"We were the eyes of the world," said Melissa Fleming. "Now we virtually have no possibility to monitor North Korea's nuclear activities, nor to provide any assurances to the international community that they are not producing a nuclear weapon."
Pyongyang said over the weekend that it might withdraw from the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons, a move that would deepen the crisis over its decision to restart its nuclear facilities.
Yesterday, North Korea's ambassador to Russia said that Pyongyang could not make good on its commitments under the treaty because of US pressure, Russian news agencies reported.
Washington has threatened North Korea "with a pre-emptive nuclear strike" and its decision to end fuel oil supplies to North Korea, Ambassador Pak Ui-chun was quoted as saying.
Russia, North Korea's longtime ally, has urged it not to take that step. Moscow's warning appeared to be a blow to Pyongyang's efforts to cast the nuclear issue as a dispute strictly with the US.
South Korea expressed alarm at signs its rival was preparing to leave the treaty, which seeks to confine nuclear weapons to the US, Russia, Britain, France and China. Still, Seoul insisted dialogue was the only way to resolve the problem peacefully.
South Korean president-elect Roh Moo-hyun requested that the US consult South Korea, a close ally, before formulating a new approach in its North Korea policy.
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