UN inspectors leave North Korea
UN weapons inspectors leave North Korea as rocket launch fallout intensifies
Also In The News
|
Manchester United have defeated Porto 3-2 on aggregate in their Champions League quarter-final. |  |
Thursday, 16, Apr 2009 06:06
United Nations weapons inspectors have left North Korea as the fallout from a hotly-disputed 'missile' launch continues.
The UN security council condemned the launch on April 5th but North Korean officials maintain the aim of the mission was to put a communications satellite into orbit to transmit patriotic songs.
North Korea broke off cooperation with multilateral talks over the their nuclear programme and inspectors from the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) were ordered to cease their work and leave the country in protest at the reaction of the international community, which officials called an "unbearable insult" to the North Korean people.
A spokesman for the IAEA confirmed the inspectors have now left the country.
He said: "IAEA inspectors at the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Yongbyong nuclear facilities, on April 15th, removed all IAEA seals and switched off surveillance cameras. This follows the DPRK informing the inspectors, on April 14th, that it had decided to cease all cooperation with the IAEA, requested removal of containment and surveillance equipment and required the inspectors to leave the DPRK at the earliest possible time."
US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said North Korea's actions were "an unnecessary response to the legitimate statement put out of concern by the security council".