VIENNA, Austria – IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano said Tuesday that the agency was continuing to monitor activities around North Koreas Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Centre, which according to news reports is believed to have supplied plutonium for the country’s nuclear weapons programme, and was a central issue in talks that broke up without agreement last week in Vietnam, between U.S. President, Donald Trump, and North Koreas Kim Jong Un.

Mr. Amano said the agency has not observed any indications of being in operation since early December, including any reprocessing activities at the Radiochemical Laboratory or construction in or around the light water reactor.

He added that the IAEA continued, however, to observe indications of the ongoing use of the reported centrifuge enrichment facility.

Without access, the Agency cannot confirm the nature and purpose of these activities, he said.

For the past decade, the agency has been largely monitoring North Koreas nuclear activities through satellite imagery and open source information.

I again call upon North Korea to comply fully with its obligations under relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council and of the IAEA Board, to cooperate promptly with the Agency and to resolve all outstanding issues, Mr. Amano said.

North Korea carried out six nuclear tests between 2006 and 2017, and in the wake of diplomatic efforts led by the U.S. and South Korea to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, and the lull in rocket launches, Mr. Amano has said the agency stands ready to undertake any nuclear verification activities, as requested.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in September last year said he was willing to continue to take measures towards his countrys denuclearisation, including the permanent dismantlement of the Yongbyon nuclear centre.

The move was announced on 19 September as part of a three-day inter-Korean summit, held in Pyongyang, Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in signed what was known as the Pyongyang Joint Declaration.

As part of the agreement North Korea sets out that it is willing to dismantle the Yongbyon nuclear research facility as long as the United States takes corresponding measures in accordance with the spirit of the June 12 US-DPRK Joint Statement,” the document signed by Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump at their first summit in Singapore.

Both the Koreas also reaffirmed their willingness to bring an end to the 1950-53 Korean War by turning the 1953-negotiated armistice treaty into a peace treaty.

Source:northkoreatimes.com/news