DPRK Urges US to Honor Commitments on Light Water ReactorsThe Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) called on the United States on Sunday to honor its commitments on construction of light water reactors (LWR) for the country.The DPRK newspaper Rodong Sinmun said in a signed commentary that under a DPRK-US agreement framework, the United States should finish building the first of the two 1,000-megawat reactors of a LWR power station by 2003 and the second by 2004. It said that the project, however, has not achieved any progress because the United States has never shown sincerity in honoring its promise. Rodong Sinmun accused of the United States of deliberately delaying the 4.6-billion -dollar project and attempting to block the development of an independent nuclear power industry in the DPRK. It warned that if the United States remains insincere in implementing the agreed framework, the DPRK will take counter-measures. Pyongyang has repeatedly criticized Washington for having only paid lip service as regards the project. Under the deal signed between the DPRK and the US-led Korean Peninsular Energy Development Organization in New York in October 1994, Washington agrees to provide two light water reactors and heavy oil as fuel energy to the DPRK. In return, the DPRK promises to phase out its graphite reactors capable of producing materials that can be used to make nuclear weapons. |
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