The head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency called yesterday for "incentives" for North Korea to return to the stalled six-party talks on its nuclear ambitions, saying sanctions alone would not resolve security issues in the region.
"There are sanctions, but sanctions alone in my view does not resolve the security issues," Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told reporters in Tokyo, where he is meeting Japanese officials.
"We need to look then into a package of incentives for North Korea to come back to the negotiations and to show the necessary flexibility," he said.
Incentives might include economic and humanitarian aid, he added.
ElBaradei's comments came after North Korea's top nuclear envoy said after meeting his US and South Korean counterparts in Beijing that his country would not unilaterally abandon its atomic weapons program.
The envoys also failed to produce a date on restarting six-nation disarmament talks.
The multinational negotiations have been stalled for over a year due to a North Korean boycott.
Efforts to resume the talks have taken on a new urgency since the North tested a nuclear device on Oct. 9.
The China-hosted talks involve the US, North Korea, Japan, South Korea and Russia.
North Korea is angry at US financial restrictions on a Macau-based bank Washington alleges was used for financial crimes by Pyongyang. It also opposes a UN sanctions resolution adapted after its nuclear test.
ElBaradei also said it was legitimate for Japan to discuss whether to acquire nuclear weapons in light of Pyongyang's nuclear test.
Several senior members of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party have suggested that Japan needs to debate building a nuclear deterrent against North Korea.
Abe has repeatedly said Japan won't stray from its postwar no-nuclear policy, but the suggestions have triggered protest from China and South Korea, who suffered under Japanese military aggression in the last century.
"I think it is legitimate for any country to discuss the implications on its security when a country in the region has developed nuclear weapons," ElBaradei said.
"I don't think Japan in any way is trying to move to a nuclear weapons state. That has been affirmed by the prime minister," he added.
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