S.Korea: DPRK light-water project could be suspended for 1 year

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, November 05, 2003

S.Korea: DPRK light-water project could be suspended for 1 year

Construction of two light-water reactors (LWRs) in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)could be suspended for one year, said South Korean Foreign Minister Yoon Young-kwan on Wednesday.

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Construction of two light-water reactors (LWRs) in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) could be suspended for one year, said South Korean Foreign Minister Yoon Young-kwan on Wednesday.

Yoon made the remarks in a regular press briefing. He said that "complete termination" of the project was not discussed at the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) meeting held Monday and Tuesday in New York.

The Executive Board of KEDO only discussed the feasibility of the "one-year suspension" plan during the meeting, said Yoon.

According to a statement released by the KENO after the meeting, the participants discussed the fate of the project but did not made official decision on it. And the KENO made clear that it will announce its final decision before Nov. 21.

The KEDO, a US-led consortium, is composed of the United States, South Korea, Japan and the European Union.

"Our government's position is to halt the project temporarily for one year," Yoon said. "This is based on the premise that it can resume a year later."

The minister said the suspension of the project was inevitable because a key US-made component -- a drain tank -- could not be delivered to the DPRK.

In order to procure the component, a liability protocol for nuclear accidents between the DPRK and the US-led consortium would have to be put in place. However, it is unlikely that such a protocol could be concluded amid the ongoing nuclear standoff.

The United States has reportedly sought to suspend the LWR project during the KEDO meeting, which is still under construction in line with a 1994 agreement signed between Washington and the DPRK.

Washington accused the DPRK of breaking the agreement, under which Pyongyang would freeze its nuclear program in exchange for the supply of fuel and the building of two light-water nuclear reactors by the KEDO. While the DPRK condemned the US of delaying the construction work of the two LWRs.

The 4.6 billion US dollars project is estimated at 33 percent complete, several years behind schedule, and some 1.36 billion dollars has been spent on it so far.

South Korea worried that complete termination of the project will escalate the tension on the Korean Peninsula and will undermine the hard-won atmosphere fetched by DPRK's consent to next round of nuclear multilateral talks.

The South Korean foreign minister also welcomed the DPRK's decision to participate in the future multilateral talks, and hoped a new six-party meeting would take place next month at the latest.

The first round of six-party talks were held in Beijing attended by the United States, the DPRK, China, Russia, South Korea and Japan in August.

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