US suspends oil deliveries to North Korea
Key allies have backed a US decision to suspend future oil deliveries to North Korea as punishment for its secret nuclear weapons programme.
A joint statement yesterday by South Korea, Japan, the EU and the US said future shipments will depend on North Korea’s “concrete and credible actions” to completely dismantle its highly enriched uranium programme. This must be done “in a visible and verifiable manner”, it said.
The three allies gave their support to the suspension 24 hours after US President George W Bush made a decision to suspend oil shipments, accusing North Korea of violating a 1994 agreement with the US in which it pledged to become a nuclear-free state.
Their decision was announced after a day-long meeting of the four parties, who are members of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organisation (KEDO) which operate the eight-year-old oil assistance programme.
The allies coupled the suspension with a condemnation of North Korea for violating the 1994 agreement and its treaty obligations to remain nuclear-free. They also warned that North Korea’s future relations with South Korea, Japan, the EU and the US “hinge on the complete and permanent elimination of its nuclear weapons programme”.
North Korea’s nuclear programme, the allies said, ”threatens regional and international security and undermines” the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Mr Bush decided to suspend the oil shipments following North Korea’s acknowledgement of its uranium bomb programme on October 4 during a meeting with US officials in Pyongyang. His only concession was to agree to allow a vessel already en route to North Korea to deliver a final oil shipment.
The statement from KEDO’s executive board said the suspension would begin with the December shipment. In light of the oil cut-off, “other KEDO activities with North Korea will be reviewed”, it said.
At the White House, senior administration officials celebrated their allies’ agreement to “condemn” the North Koreans outright and unequivocally demand immediate elimination of Pyongyang’s nuclear programme.
The officials also underscored the KEDO member countries’ threat to cancel other interaction beyond the oil programme, including economic aid and construction projects.
The isolated nation is destitute and depends heavily on the US oil shipments. The US, South Korea, the EU and Japan are hoping the prospect of a cold winter for millions of North Koreans will pressure Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear ambitions.
“We strongly ask North Korea to take our message seriously and scrap its plan to develop nuclear arms immediately,” Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda told a press conference today.
KEDO was founded after North Korea signed the 1994 agreement with the US. In exchange for North Korea’s pledge to be nuclear-free, Washington promised to provide more than 500,000 tons of heavy oil per year.
In addition, South Korea and Japan offered to pay most of the cost for two light water nuclear reactors that are of limited use for a country intent on developing nuclear weapons. The fate of that project is up in the air.
