January 22, 2003	Wednesday	Ziqa’ad 18, 1423

GENEVA, Jan 21: UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Tuesday urged North Korea to reconsider its decision to pull out of a key international disarmament treaty to block the spread of nuclear weapons.

In a message to the opening session of the UN’s conference on disarmament, Annan said the 66-nation body should focus on the issue of compliance with existing treaties.

North Korea’s recent withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) raised “serious concerns,” Annan said in the message.

“I regret this development and I strongly urge, once again, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to reconsider its decision,” he said.

“The only viable solution to this latest setback for disarmament and non-proliferation is through peaceful means, dialogue, and a spirit of mutual interest,” Annan said.

The NPT was concluded in 1970 after negotiations at the Disarmament conference in Geneva.

North Korea announced earlier this month that it was pulling out of the NPT after reactivating its frozen nuclear programme amid growing tension with the United States.

The Conference on Disarmament, the world’s only global forum for talks on weapons control, resumed meetings here on Tuesday until March 28.

Progress in the permanent Conference has been frozen for several years because of disagreement — notably among the major nuclear powers including the US, Russia and China — on the priorities for its work programme.

Rakesh Sood, the Indian ambassador chairing the session in coming weeks, emphasised that the multilateral body was aimed more at preventing future problems, and was unlikely to focus on North Korea’s withdrawal from the NPT.

“Crisis management is not necessarily what the Conference in Disarmament is about,” he told journalists.

“The North Korea issue is not a specific agenda item, but we will have general talks on nuclear disarmament,” Sood said, acknowledging a sense of frustration among the 66 countries with the lack of progress in recent years.

“There is a feeling that somehow it’s good to have treaties, but there must be a way to ensure compliance,” Sood said.

Some treaties, such as the global ban on chemical weapons, have organisations devoted to surveillance and ensuring that they are respected.

By denying access to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors, North Korea effectively turned its back on the main tool to ensure compliance with the Non-Proliferation Treaty, arms control experts said.—AFP