TAIPIEI, TAIWAN – The leader of the United Nations nuclear custody said on Tuesday that the North Korea nuclear weapons program developed “exponentially” and urged talks between Washington and Pyongyang.
Since taking office in January, US President Donald Trump said the United States has been “communication” with North Korea and that Washington “could do something” with Pyongyang.
“I said that we have to get involved,” said Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA.
“You cannot have a country like this which is completely outside the graphics with its nuclear arsenal,” he said during an event organized by the foreign relations council, an American bank.
The nuclear program of North Korea, said that grown, “exponentially caused” and that it is currently building a third enrichment installation – a crucial part of the construction of nuclear bombs.
The UN has imposed sanctions on North Korea aimed at limiting its development of nuclear weapons, but these measures have not failed to stop the Pyongyang programs. The North can have up to 50 nuclear warheads, according to a report in 2024 of the International Stockholm Peace Research Institute.
Grosi challenged the approach that requires Pyongyang “disarma or we are not talking”, arguing that “things are more complicated … You have to start by talking”.
He praised high-level diplomacy, specifically mentioning Trump’s letters during his first mandate to the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
“Presidential diplomacy is important,” said the head of the AIEA.
When asked if Beijing and Moscow would encourage the renewal of the IAEA dialogue with North Korea, Grosi said that he did not consider the two countries as “against” a form of commitment. But he added that he saw no country that the country pushes him as a priority.
The chief of the guard dog has always expressed his concerns about nuclear progress in North Korea.
During his visit to Japan in February, he pleaded for a renewal of commitment with North Korea, suggesting that the AIAA should restore its presence in the country.
IAEA inspectors were expelled from North Korea in April 2009, when Pyongyang told the agency that he “immediately stopped cooperation” with the United Nations.
In November, Grossi reported continuous development of a reactor in Yongbyon and apparent work on an unconceived centrifuge enrichment factory in the Kangson complex. More recently, in March, he noted indications of a new reprocessing campaign to the Yongbyon reactor.
As an official policy, the United States has long refused to recognize Pyongyang as a nuclear power, despite its arsenal of nuclear weapons.
However, the Trump administration has turned from the official line, as the president called North Korea as a “nuclear nation” on several occasions since its entry into office.
More recently, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described North Korea as a country “armed by nuclear weapons” in an apparent recognition of Pyongyang nuclear weapons capacities.
Rubio used the expression in an interview with Podcast published on Wednesday, in which he discussed the security challenges that the United States faced, especially in China, Russia and Iran.
“We live in a world with a North Korea with nuclear arms, with an ambitious nuclear Iran,” said the secretary in the podcast organized by the Free Press, according to a transcription provided by the State Department.
The expression “nuclear power” has aroused concerns in South Korea, as it could be interpreted as formal recognition of the United States of the capacity of nuclear weapons of North Korea – potentially legitimizing the Kim regime.
Edited by Mike Firn and Stephen Wright.