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North Korea gave the U.S. government prior notice of its decision this Tuesday to reassemble its Yongbyon nuclear facility. It has taken out of storage some mothballed equipment at the Yongbyon complex and had begun to move it to its nuclear facilities there. Workers are also cleaning up the remnants of the cooling tower that was blown up earlier this year as a sign of Pyongyang¡¯s will to dismantle its nuclear program. There are differences in how South Korean and U.S. officials are assessing this development, but there is said to be no disagreement that the situation is serious.
However, North Korea has not kicked out U.S. and IAEA officials in Yongbyon and is allowing them to watch all of its activities. In effect, it is holding a public protest against the U.S. government because it wants to be taken off Washington¡¯s list of terrorism sponsoring countries.
In contrast, Libya on Friday welcomed the first official visit by a U.S. secretary of state in 55 years. It is because Libya used to rival North Korea in terms of its hostility toward the U.S. that the U.S. State Department is calling the visit ¡°historic.¡±
In December 2003, Libya announced it would scrap its nuclear weapons program and unveiled fissile materials and the blueprints of 30 nuclear facilities to the IAEA and the U.S. and British governments. Just two months later, Libya handed over nuclear weapons designs to the U.S. and airlifted 55,000 tons of fissile material to America a few days later.
The international community rewarded Libya¡¯s speedy action with trust. In 2004, the U.S. lifted economic sanctions against Libya and in 2006 it opened an embassy there. A month later, Libya was removed from the list of terrorism sponsoring countries, just three years after it scrapped its nuclear weapons program.
There were differences of opinion between Libya and the international community during this process. But Libya never diverged from the principle of allowing complete verification and giving up its nuclear program. As a result, Libya is no longer an international pariah and is welcoming a U.S. secretary of state.
North Korea can emerge from its isolation and see the opening of a U.S. embassy in Pyongyang and vice versa. It all depends whether it is willing to stand firmly behind its decision to scrap its nuclear weapons program, as Libya did, and is willing to undergo thorough verification by the international community. But right now, North Korea is going in the opposite direction.
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