Disarmament Diplomacy
Issue No. 17, July - August 1997
KEDO-North Korea Agreement:
Satisfactory Progress Reported, More Awaited
On 8 July, Charles Kartman, Acting Assistant Secretary in the US
Department of State's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs,
gave an account of the current situation regarding the planned
replacement of North Korea's nuclear facilities by the Korean
Energy Development Organization (KEDO). Addressing the Senate
Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs,
Kartman stated:
"The freeze on North Korea's nuclear program has been in place
since November 1994 and has been continuously monitored by the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)... Thanks to the hard
work of a team of experts led by the Department of Energy, over 85%
of North Korea's nuclear fuel-rods have been placed into storage,
under IAEA safeguards. Barring unforeseen delays, we anticipate
that the project will be completed later this year.
...KEDO is fulfilling its commitment to finance and supply...two
light-water reactors (LWR) and heavy fuel oil, until the first
reactor is completed. ... KEDO has successfully
negotiated...numerous agreements and protocols which govern the
terms and conditions for the reactor project. KEDO has also sent
seven site-survey teams of technical experts (primarily from South
Korea)... This progress sets the stage for KEDO to break ground on
the first reactor in North Korea, likely early next month. [See
Documents and Sources.]
KEDO has grown into an important arm of our coordinated
diplomacy with the ROK [South Korea] and Japan, and is developing
into a truly international organization. The European Union (EU) is
scheduled to join KEDO later this month, and will become the fourth
member of KEDO's Executive Board. The EU's commitment to contribute
approximately $20 million annually to KEDO for the next five years
will help put KEDO finances on a more solid foundation.
Nonetheless, KEDO continues to run a serious deficit in its oil
funding account. Although the ROK and Japan will shoulder the bulk
of the responsibility for the multi-billion dollar LWR project,
continued US funding for KEDO activities, primarily heavy fuel oil
deliveries, remains indispensable to the organization's ability to
fulfil its commitments and keep the Agreed Framework on track.
..."
On 2 August, a senior official of the Association of South East
Asian Nations (ASEAN) told reporters that the US had asked ASEAN
for a contribution of $30 million to KEDO. According to the unnamed
official, speaking in Manila, the request was for that sum over 5
years, with an initial payment of $10 million followed by four $5
million instalments. The request was apparently made by Secretary
of State Madeleine Albright at a meeting of ASEAN Foreign Ministers
in the Philippines on 28 July. It was not clear from the official's
remarks, as reported, what the response of ASEAN was likely to
be.
On 4 August, KEDO announced that the first stage of construction
- land-clearance at the chosen site, near the coastal town of
Sinpo, would begin imminently. Phone lines between the site and
KEDO were established by South Korea's main telephone company Korea
Telephone, on 4 August.
Reports: Text - Kartman 7/8 remarks on US policy
toward North Korea, United States Information Agency, 8 July;
US asks ASEAN to give $30 million to KEDO, Kyodo News
International News Wire, 2 August; KEDO due to clear land,
Reuters World Service, 4 August.
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