S. Korea, IAEA discuss N.K. nuclear program in high-level policy talks

South Korea and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) held regular high-level policy talks Wednesday and discussed North Korea’s nuclear program and other areas of cooperation, the foreign ministry said.

Park Yong-min, the deputy foreign minister for multilateral and global affairs, met with Massimo Aparo, deputy director general of the IAEA, in Seoul for their 12th round of the meeting earlier in the day, the ministry said in a release.

The two sides discussed joint efforts to strengthen readiness for verifying North Korea’s nuclear program and stepping up cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

According to the ministry, Aparo stressed the IAEA is strictly maintaining its readiness for verification of the program.

Separately, Aparo also held talks with Kim Gunn, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, and voiced “deep concerns” over North Korea’s continued nuclear activities in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Kim stressed that South Korea has emerged as a nuclear powerhouse that exports nuclear reactors abroad with its peaceful use of nuclear energy, while the North has continued with its illicit development of nuclear weapons, even threatening to stage a preemptive nuclear strike, according to the ministry.

Seoul and the IAEA have held the high-level talks annually since 2013 as part of efforts to promote bilateral communication and cooperation in nuclear safeguards.