IAEA approves resolution denouncing N Korea nuke activities

The International Atomic Energy Agency adopted late Friday a resolution denouncing North Korea for its continued nuclear activity and urging it to abide by the atomic Non Proliferation Treaty safeguards. The resolution condemned Pyongyang's non-cooperation with the IAEA to ensure the peacefulness of it nuke program. It also "calls upon (North Korea) to come into full compliance" with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and abide by U.N. Security Council resolutions. The UN nuke watchdog also "strongly urged" North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program. The text adopted without a vote by the General Conference of the 155-nation International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also called on North Korea, which is not a member of the Vienna-based U.N. agency, not to carry out a new nuclear test. It also demands North Korea fulfill its commitments made under the Sept. 19, 2005, deal with its five dialogue partners in the six-party talks. In the 2005 joint statement, Pyongyang agreed to abandon its nuclear program in return for political and economic incentives. Following a Feb. 29 agreement with the United States, Pyongyang invited an IAEA delegation to visit there to "discuss technical issues with regard to the monitoring of moratorium on uranium enrichment activities" in its main nuclear site in Yongbyon. At the end of March, the IAEA replied that it was willing to follow up on North Korea's invitation "in a constructive spirit." The so-called Leap Day deal, however, was virtually annulled when Pyongyang launched a long-range rocket in April. North Korea has since rejected cooperation with the IAEA. Pyongyang expelled IAEA monitors from Yongbyon in 2009.