ID :
20461
Mon, 09/22/2008 - 09:38
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/20461
The shortlink copeid
Seoul will suspend aid if N.K. restores nuclear reactor: source
By Shin Hae-in
SEOUL, Sept. 21 (Yonhap) -- South Korea may suspend its promised energy aid to North Korea if the communist country accelerates the pace of restoring its key nuclear facilities it had disabled under a six-party deal, a diplomatic source said Sunday.
In an aid-for-denuclearization deal in 2006 with the United States, South Korea,
China, Japan and Russia, North Korea began disabling its Yongbyon nuclear complex
late last year in anticipation of 1 million tons of fuel aid.
North Korea is backtracking from the deal, accusing the United States of failing
to honor a key condition attached to the deal: removal of the communist country
from its list of countries sponsoring terrorism.
On Friday, North Korea's Foreign Ministry officially confirmed that work on
restoring the disabled Yongbyon facilities was moving on.
"North Korea is restoring three of its core nuclear facilities in Yongbyon.
Although restoration is proceeding quite slowly at the moment, Seoul will have to
make a countermove once the process picks up speed," a diplomatic source told
Yonhap News Agency, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.
About 40 percent of the promised 1 million tons of energy aid to North Korea has
so far been delivered, according to South Korean officials.
The nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula took a positive turn in June when
Pyongyang provided a list of its nuclear programs and blew up the cooling tower
at Yongbyon as a symbolic gesture of its commitment to the denuclearization deal.
But the process hit a snag following a dispute between North Korea and the United
States over how to verify Pyongyang's nuclear programs.
Reports of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's bad health are adding to
uncertainties amid concerns that a power vacuum in the Stalinist state could
nullify the denuclearization deal.
According to South Korean intelligence officials, the 66-year-old North Korean
leader suffered a stroke last month and is recovering. North Korea has denied the
reports that its leader is in bad health.
Kim Jong-il, who took power after his father Kim Il-sung, the founder of North
Korea, died in 1994, has not groomed an heir-apparent.
hayney@yna.co.kr
(END)
SEOUL, Sept. 21 (Yonhap) -- South Korea may suspend its promised energy aid to North Korea if the communist country accelerates the pace of restoring its key nuclear facilities it had disabled under a six-party deal, a diplomatic source said Sunday.
In an aid-for-denuclearization deal in 2006 with the United States, South Korea,
China, Japan and Russia, North Korea began disabling its Yongbyon nuclear complex
late last year in anticipation of 1 million tons of fuel aid.
North Korea is backtracking from the deal, accusing the United States of failing
to honor a key condition attached to the deal: removal of the communist country
from its list of countries sponsoring terrorism.
On Friday, North Korea's Foreign Ministry officially confirmed that work on
restoring the disabled Yongbyon facilities was moving on.
"North Korea is restoring three of its core nuclear facilities in Yongbyon.
Although restoration is proceeding quite slowly at the moment, Seoul will have to
make a countermove once the process picks up speed," a diplomatic source told
Yonhap News Agency, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.
About 40 percent of the promised 1 million tons of energy aid to North Korea has
so far been delivered, according to South Korean officials.
The nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula took a positive turn in June when
Pyongyang provided a list of its nuclear programs and blew up the cooling tower
at Yongbyon as a symbolic gesture of its commitment to the denuclearization deal.
But the process hit a snag following a dispute between North Korea and the United
States over how to verify Pyongyang's nuclear programs.
Reports of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's bad health are adding to
uncertainties amid concerns that a power vacuum in the Stalinist state could
nullify the denuclearization deal.
According to South Korean intelligence officials, the 66-year-old North Korean
leader suffered a stroke last month and is recovering. North Korea has denied the
reports that its leader is in bad health.
Kim Jong-il, who took power after his father Kim Il-sung, the founder of North
Korea, died in 1994, has not groomed an heir-apparent.
hayney@yna.co.kr
(END)
