North Korea Plans To Blow Up Cooling Towers In Yongbyon Nuclear Facilities

North Korea's plan to blow up cooling towers in the Yongbyon nuclear facilities has been spreading in the international community.

Recently, 5 countries in the six party talks with the DPRK have been invited to report the explosion of the cooling tower. The invited cable television news International (CNN) will broadcast the destruction of the cooling tower around the world.

It was the focus of the DPRK and the United States. According to the IAEA data, the DPRK started the nuclear technology research in the late 1950s. In the middle of 60s, with the help of the Soviet Union, the DPRK established the ningbyon atomic energy research base and trained a large number of nuclear technicians.

At that time, North Korea introduced the first 800 kilowatt nuclear reactor from the Soviet Union, so that North Korea's nuclear technology research began to take shape.

In 1987, North Korea built a 5 megawatt graphite reactor in the Yongbyon region, and began extracting the raw materials for nuclear weapons from the reactor.

In October 2006, the first underground nuclear test carried out by the DPRK took advantage of the nuclear device made of plutonium material extracted from this reactor.

According to the joint document of the second phase action to implement the joint declaration adopted last October 3rd by the six party talks, the DPRK began to "de functionalization" of three nuclear facilities in Ningbo last November, with the main target being 5 MW nuclear reactors.

Experts point out that the so-called "de functionalization" is that nuclear reactors can not start at any time.

Although "de functionalization" itself is not equivalent to completely abandoning nuclear facilities, it is one of the substantive steps to "end with abandonment" and is of great significance for promoting the denuclearization process on the Korean Peninsula.

With the development of "de functionalization", cooling towers, as an important part of nuclear reactors, have gradually come into sight and become a symbolic building.

It is reported that in 90s of last century, in accordance with the "Geneva framework agreement" signed by the DPRK and the United States, the United States had been using satellites to monitor whether the cooling tower was smoked as a means of testing the frozen tuberculosis facilities. It also used the operation of the cold tower as a basis for assessing the quantity of plutonium extracted by the DPRK in the past 5 years.

During this period, the DPRK also fought with the United States on the cooling tower issue, deliberately burning some waste paper to let the chimney smoke, so as to "confuse" the United States.

The competition has always been accompanied by disputes. However, with the development of the nuclear facilities in North Korea, the cooling towers are basically useless.

According to the common documents of the six party talks, the destruction of cooling towers is not included in the second phase of operation. It is generally considered to be the next stage of the nuclear disarmament process.

North Korea now takes the initiative to blow up the cooling towers and show the world that it is clear that the following attitude should be made: first, the position of the DPRK to realize the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is firm and unsceptical; second, the DPRK hopes to take the initiative to remove the doubts of the United States and promote the resumption of the six party talks as soon as possible; third, as long as the United States carries out the principle of "action to action", the DPRK will take more bold and decisive measures in the future.

As we all know, this year, the DPRK and the United States have further enhanced mutual understanding and trust through a series of direct contacts and dialogues.

In particular, after the DPRK handed over the nuclear program documents to the United States in early May, since the beginning of 1986, the second phase of the DPRK nuclear issue has clearly entered the conclusion stage, and the hostility between the two sides has eased.

In the middle of May, the United States announced that it would provide 500 thousand tons of food aid to the DPRK.

From the standpoint of the DPRK, the improvement of DPRK US relations until the normalization of bilateral relations will greatly help to gain more space for activities in terms of politics, economy and security, and create a favorable international environment for the construction of the "powerful countries" that they have repeatedly marked.

Since the first six party talks held in August 2003, the DPRK nuclear issue has experienced twists and turns.

From the joint statement issued in September 19, 2005 to the joint document on the implementation of the joint declaration start action in February 13, 2007, and the joint document on the implementation of the second phase action of the joint declaration in October 3rd of the same year, the three important documents of the six party talks symbolize the course of the Korean nuclear issue from the standpoint, consensus, resolution and action.

In this process, almost every action is accompanied by differences and competitions, and is accompanied by the wisdom and tenacity of bridging differences and eliminating confrontation.

Compared with the "frozen" nuclear facilities stipulated in the Geneva nuclear framework agreement, the DPRK has shut down, sealed up, removed functionalization and destroyed the cooling towers, indicating that the DPRK nuclear issue has entered an unprecedented field.

The way to abandon nuclear power is still long. It is easy to see that there are several phenomena worth pondering whether it is to remove functionalization or nuclear declaration, or to destroy the cooling tower.

First, this process is closely related to the dialogue and improvement of relations between the DPRK and the United States.

During this period, DPRK conducted many direct dialogues in Beijing, Pyongyang, Geneva, Singapore and other places to enhance communication and deepen trust.

Second, the process is inseparable from the cooperation of all parties concerned.

As the host of the six party talks, China's role in mediating and coordinating has been valued and respected by all parties concerned.

Without the cooperation of the parties concerned, the six party talks can not achieve today's progress.

Third, this process is also an open process.

For example, on the issue of functionalization of Korean nuclear facilities, not only American experts have been involved, but also officials and experts from China, Russia, Korea, Japan and other countries have visited the yongbian region for many times.

North Korea's invitation to foreign media to see the destruction of cooling towers and live broadcasting is more open.

Fourthly, this process is closely related to the principle of "action to action" agreed by all parties.

Whether it is the pfer of funds frozen in North Korea last year, or the issue of nuclear facilities de functionalization and declaration of nuclear plans, it shows a problem that can not be ignored. In implementing the joint documents of the six party talks, the principle of action to action must be concretely implemented. Any unilateral pressure will only lead to delays and impede the consequences of the process.

The explosion of a cooling tower, though a symbol of the North Korean nuclear issue, will enter a new stage, but it does not mean that the future of the North Korean nuclear issue will be smooth sailing.

To achieve the goal of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and establish a mechanism for peace and security in Northeast Asia, the road is still long and tortuous.

It has been said long ago that solving the DPRK nuclear issue is like climbing a mountain.

But if we climb without stopping, we will one day climb to the top.