Nuclear weapons site inspection among training topics
Eleven officials from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, an arm of the U.S. Department of Defense, recently arrived in Seoul to train close to 20 members of the Korean military in methods of inspecting nuclear weapons sites and conventional weapons facilities. The training will reportedly take place at the Ministry of National Defense on September 11-12 and at a Korean military installation in Gyeonggi Province September 13-16. North Korea is not the official "target" of the training, but sources say the North Korean nuclear issue is the reasoning behind what will be the first inspection training in approximately 10 years. Participants will include individuals with experience at inspecting former Soviet nuclear and conventional weapons sites. "It was Korea that asked for the training," said a defense ministry official. "We wanted to learn the procedures again because it hasn’t taken place in a decade." Some observers note that the ministry might be preparing for the possibility that South Korea will have the opportunity to participate in the inspection of North Korean facilities. The joint six-party statement of September 19, 2005 stipulates that the North is supposed to give up its nuclear weapons and all current nuclear programs.Believing that South Korea’s participation would be an essential party in any inspection of North Korean nuclear sites and oversight of their destruction, early this year defense ministry officials reportedly began to develop plans designed to give the South that capability. The American agency has been responsible for site inspection in the effort to prevent nuclear proliferation since the signing of the START-1 treaty between the U.S. and the Soviet Union in 1991.
