Challenged by the UN nuclear chief to prove their nuclear programs are peaceful, North Korea said it would scrap its "nuclear deterrence" if the US ended its hostile policy and Iran said negotiations with three European countries may "bring fruit."
But North Korea's deputy UN Ambassador Kim Chang Guk on Monday totally rejected the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), calling it "a political tool of the superpower."
He also accused Japan of allowing US nuclear weapons on its soil and South Korea of harboring nuclear ambitions -- allegations both countries vehemently denied.
Iran's deputy UN Ambassador Mehdi Danesh-Yazdi was less strident, but stressed that Tehran "is determined to pursue its inalienable rights to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes."
He also criticized the international community for targeting Iran's nuclear program while saying nothing about Israel's.
IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei challenged both countries in his annual report to the UN General Assembly, urging Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment program "as a confidence building measure" and North Korea to dismantle its nuclear weapons program or at least allow inspections to ensure it is "exclusively peaceful."
He expressed hope that Iran will decide to suspend enrichment before the IAEA board meets in Vienna, Austria on Nov. 25.
Britain, Germany and France have warned that most European countries would back the US' call to refer Iran to the UN Security Council -- where it could face possible sanctions -- if the Iranian government does not abandon all enrichment activities before the board meeting.
Uranium enriched to a low level can be used to produce nuclear fuel for electricity-generating plants, but if enriched further can be used to make atomic weapons.
Iran is not prohibited from enriching uranium under its obligations to the nuclear nonproliferation treaty, but is barred from arms-related work.
Danesh-Yazdi said Iran has a right "to develop, research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes."
But he told the General Assembly that Tehran has voluntarily suspended enrichment activities since last November.
"Iran is also currently engaged in negotiations with France, Germany and Britain to reach mutual objective assurances on nuclear cooperation, transparency and non-diversion" of nuclear material, he said. "These negotiations will bring fruit if mutual understanding, political will and good faith prevail."
At the moment, there aren't any negotiations taking place on North Korea's program -- and the IAEA hasn't conducted any inspections in the country since December 2002.
ElBaradei said he was frustrated that six-nation talks involving the US, China, Russia, Japan and the two Koreas were not moving faster.
The goal is to negotiate a deal for the communist regime to dismantle its nuclear weapons programs in exchange for economic help and security guarantees.
But the process is at a standstill because North Korea refused to show up for talks scheduled for September.
"I'm telling the North Koreans again that the international community is ready to look into your security concerns, ready to look into your economic and humanitarian needs," ElBaradei told reporters. "But a prerequisite is for them to commit themselves to full, verifiable, dismantlement of their weapons program -- as they say they have a weapons program."
Auschwitz survivor Eva Schloss, the stepsister of teenage diarist Anne Frank and a tireless educator about the horrors of the Holocaust, has died. She was 96. The Anne Frank Trust UK, of which Schloss was honorary president, said she died on Saturday in London, where she lived. Britain’s King Charles III said he was “privileged and proud” to have known Schloss, who cofounded the charitable trust to help young people challenge prejudice. “The horrors that she endured as a young woman are impossible to comprehend and yet she devoted the rest of her life to overcoming hatred and prejudice, promoting kindness, courage, understanding
Tens of thousands of Filipino Catholics yesterday twirled white cloths and chanted “Viva, viva,” as a centuries-old statue of Jesus Christ was paraded through the streets of Manila in the nation’s biggest annual religious event. The day-long procession began before dawn, with barefoot volunteers pulling the heavy carriage through narrow streets where the devout waited in hopes of touching the icon, believed to hold miraculous powers. Thousands of police were deployed to manage crowds that officials believe could number in the millions by the time the statue reaches its home in central Manila’s Quiapo church around midnight. More than 800 people had sought
‘DISRESPECTFUL’: Katie Miller, the wife of Trump’s most influential adviser, drew ire by posting an image of Greenland in the colors of the US flag, captioning it ‘SOON’ US President Donald Trump on Sunday doubled down on his claim that Greenland should become part of the US, despite calls by the Danish prime minister to stop “threatening” the territory. Washington’s military intervention in Venezuela has reignited fears for Greenland, which Trump has repeatedly said he wants to annex, given its strategic location in the arctic. While aboard Air Force One en route to Washington, Trump reiterated the goal. “We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it,” he said in response to a reporter’s question. “We’ll worry about Greenland in
PERILOUS JOURNEY: Over just a matter of days last month, about 1,600 Afghans who were at risk of perishing due to the cold weather were rescued in the mountains Habibullah set off from his home in western Afghanistan determined to find work in Iran, only for the 15-year-old to freeze to death while walking across the mountainous frontier. “He was forced to go, to bring food for the family,” his mother, Mah Jan, said at her mud home in Ghunjan village. “We have no food to eat, we have no clothes to wear. The house in which I live has no electricity, no water. I have no proper window, nothing to burn for heating,” she added, clutching a photograph of her son. Habibullah was one of at least 18 migrants who died
RSS