UNSC 1718 INFORMAL MEETING, JULY 2, 2008

UNCLAS STATE 070827 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: UNSC KN SUBJECT: UNSC 1718 INFORMAL MEETING, JULY 2, 2008 ¶1. Mission should draw upon the statement below in July 2 UNSC informal consultations on UNSCR 1718 on nonproliferation in North Korea. ¶2. The Security Council meets today to discuss events concerning the DPRK and the implementation of UNSCR 1718 concerning nuclear nonproliferation. I am very pleased to note that this meeting takes place against a background of positive developments with the DPRK. I would like to make six points. First, our common goal is a Korean Peninsula free of all nuclear weapons. We moved a step closer to that goal when DPRK officials submitted a declaration of their nuclear programs to the Chinese government as part of the Six-Party Talks. We welcome this development as one step in the multi-step process laid out by the Six-Party Talks between the DPRK, China, Japan, Russia, the ROK, and the United States. Last year, the DPRK committed to disable its nuclear facilities. The DPRK has begun disabling the three core facilities at its Yongbyon nuclear complex -- which was producing plutonium for nuclear weapons. This work is being overseen by officials from the United States and the IAEA, and the DPRK has demonstrated its commitment to the disablement of its nuclear facilities by destroying the cooling tower of the Yongbyon reactor in front of international television cameras. Second, last year, the DPRK committed to declare its nuclear activities. With last week,s declaration, the DPRK has begun describing its plutonium-related activities. It has also provided production records related to its nuclear programs dated back to 1986. It has promised access to the reactor core and waste facilities at Yongbyon as well as to documents and personnel related to its nuclear program. All this information will be essential to verifying that the DPRK is ending its nuclear programs and activities. Third, the United States lifted the application of the Trading with the Enemy Act with regards to the DPRK and has taken the initial steps necessary to rescind the designation of the DPRK as a state sponsor of terrorism. These actions will have little impact on the DPRK,s financial and diplomatic isolation. The DPRK will remain one of the most heavily sanctioned nations in the world. The U.S. sanctions that the DPRK faces for its human rights violations, its nuclear test in 2006, and its weapons proliferation will all stay in effect. All United Nations Security Council sanctions, including those in Resolution 1718, will stay in effect as well. Fourth, the United States has no illusions about the regime in Pyongyang. We remain deeply concerned about the DPRKs human rights abuses, uranium enrichment activities, nuclear testing and proliferation, ballistic missile programs, and the threat it continues to pose to the ROK and its neighbors. Fifth, the Six-Party process has shed light on a number of issues of serious concern to the United States and the international community. To end its isolation, the DPRK must address these concerns. It must dismantle all of its nuclear facilities, give up its separated plutonium, abandon all nuclear weapons, resolve outstanding questions on its highly enriched uranium and proliferation activities, and end these activities in a way that we can fully verify. The DPRK must also meet other obligations it has undertaken in the Six-Party Talks. The United States will never forget the abduction of Japanese citizens by the DPRK. We will continue to closely cooperate and coordinate with Japan and press the DPRK to swiftly resolve the abduction issue. Sixth, as President Bush has noted, multilateral diplomacy is the best way to peacefully solve the nuclear issue with the DPRK. Strong multilateral diplomacy can yield promising results. Yet the diplomatic process is not an end in itself. Our ultimate goal remains clear: a stable and peaceful Korean Peninsula, where people are free from oppression, free from hunger and disease, and free from nuclear weapons. At the end of this process, we expect to see the verified abandonment of all nuclear weapons, programs and materials. The journey toward that goal remains long, but we have taken important steps in the right direction. RICE