Pledge by DPR of Korea to abandon nuclear weapons hailed at UN atomic conference

The General Conference of the United Nations atomic watchdog wound up its meetings today, adopting resolutions on various nuclear issues, including the implementation of safeguards in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the application of safeguards in the Middle East.

The week-long conference, attended by more than 100 States, was held at the Vienna headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The resolution on the DPRK, adopted without a vote, "strongly welcomes" the Joint Statement of 19 September 2005 on the fourth round of Six-Party Talks in China at which the DPRK committed itself to abandon nuclear weapons and rejoin the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

It said the latest round of talks "accomplished positive progress by taking a first step toward the goal of the verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner, and looks forward to the results of the fifth round of these talks in early November."

The resolution on the application of safeguards in the Middle East, as similar General Conference resolutions have done in the past, calls upon "all States in the region to take measures, including confidence-building and verification measures, aimed at establishing a nuclear-weapon-free-zone in the Middle East." It was also adopted without a vote.