DPRK issue requires different approach: Analysis

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, November 25, 2003

DPRK issue requires different approach: Analysis

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The Korean Peninsular Energy Development Organization (KEDO) announced on Friday that the construction of two light-water reactors in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) will be suspended for one year, starting from December 1.

"The executive board of KEDO, given that the conditions necessary for continuing the light-water reactor project have not been met by the DPRK, has decided to suspend the light-water reactor project," KEDO said in its statement.

At the critical juncture when positive signs are emerging for the settlement of the nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula, KEDO's suspension announcement is pouring cold water on a thawing situation.

KEDO, an international consortium consisting of the United States, the Republic of Korea (ROK), Japan and the European Union (EU), promised to help the DPRK build the two light-water reactors in the DPRK in return for Pyongyang's halt to its nuclear programme according to a DPRK-US agreement.

The accord also commits the United States to annually provide some amount of heavy-fuel oil to DPRK before the two light-water reactors are built. According to the timetable, the first one should be completed by the end of this year and the second completed by 2007.

Washington cut off its free oil shipments to Pyongyang immediately after the United States said last October the DPRK had confessed to running a secret nuclear weapons development programme, and the construction of the nuclear power project has since come to a standstill. So far, only one-third of the project has been completed.

The United States consistently asserts that it is not bound to build such a project any more, on the grounds that the DPRK did not abide by its commitment to stop its nuclear programme. But Pyongyang attributed its nuclear weapons development to the United States' hostile policy towards the DPRK and Washington's deliberate postponement of the construction of the two light-water reactors.

The United States has consistently pushed KEDO to completely stop its construction of the two reactors. But other KEDO members, especially the ROK and Japan, were concerned that the decision would provoke some extreme reactions from the DPRK.

This latest decision was the result of compromise between the United States and other KEDO members after the body held a private consultation earlier this month.

The ROK, Japan and the EU still advocate using the prospect of reviving the project to persuade the DPRK to scrap its nuclear weapons development programme. But Adam Ereli, a US State Department spokesman, said on Thursday "there's no prospect for the project."

Given the complication of the nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula and the lack of mutual trust between the United States and the DPRK, KEDO's decision will undoubtedly cast a shadow over international efforts to settle the long-standing and complicated nuclear standoff.

Currently, active efforts are being made for the second round of six-party talks, which are expected to be held in Beijing in December. The first round of six-party talks, which included China, the United States, the DPRK, Russia, the ROK and Japan, was held in August in Beijing without resolving the fundamental dispute between Washington and Pyongyang.

The possibility for the second round of talks has been on the increase since October, when US President George W. Bush promised a written security guarantee to the DPRK at the Asia-Pacific summit meeting and Pyongyang in turn gave up its long-held demand that a non-aggression treaty should be signed with the United States.

On the eve of the next round of talks, the assumption that KEDO's decision was a US move to press the DPRK for more concessions is not groundless.

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