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North Korea employs a unique "salami tactic" to its pledged restoration of nuclear facilities in a bid to heighten the degree of pressure by splitting the restoration process as much as possible and taking out a new card each time, it was learned Wednesday.
North Korea has taken a series of steps since the U.S. decided the keep it on a list of states sponsoring terrorism, declaring a halt to nuclear disablement on Aug. 14 and announcing on Aug. 26 it is restoring the facilities. On Sept. 3 it apparently started restoring them, and this week it asked the IAEA to remove the seals. It then apparently took the seals off itself but added for the time being there will be "no nuclear material involved." That piecemeal approach is apparently designed to persuade the U.S. to make more concessions, a government official here said.
South Korean and American authorities are now most concerned if Pyongyang will expel IAEA monitors, which would be a sure sign that the North is serious. During the second North Korean nuclear crisis in 2002, North Korea removed seals from three Yongbyon nuclear facilities between Dec. 22-24 and evicted IAEA monitors two days later.
But a diplomatic source said this time around North Korea ¡°might let the IAEA monitors stay so that they can relay developments from the scene." If the North wants eventual negotiations, the source added, it could intensify pressure by letting the world watch.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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