N. Korea not likely to get energy aid without verification regime: State Dept.

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. State Department Friday reiterated that
North Korea will not get promised energy aid unless it agrees to a verification
protocol of its nuclear facilities under an aid-for-denuclearization deal.

"Fuel shipments, yeah, will not go forward absent a verification regime,"
spokesman Sean McCormack said. "There's one in train with the Russians, but I
think there is an understanding among the parties -- I guess the five parties,
the exception being North Korea -- that fuel
oil shipments will not go forward absent progress."
The U.S., South Korea, China, Japan and Russia are supposed to provide 200,000
tons of heavy fuel oil to North Korea each in exchange for the North's
disablement of its nuclear facilities in the second phase of the six-party
denuclearization agreement. About half has been delivered.
On the suspension of heavy fuel oil shipments, McCormack said North Koreans
"understand that, yes."
During the just-concluded six-party talks in Beijing, North Korea refused to sign
an agreement on a verification protocol, including taking samples from its main
nuclear reactor in Yongbyon, north of Pyongyang, saying the sampling should take
place in the third and final phase of the denuclearization process.
North Korea's chief nuclear negotiator, Kim Kye-gwan, also said Wednesday that
the North would not accept the sampling in the face of a hostile U.S. policy.
Kim's remarks are in stark contrast to those of Christopher Hill, U.S. assistant
secretary of state, who said the North had agreed to the sampling verbally in
October when he visited Pyongyang.
The outgoing Bush administration delisted the North afterwards as a state sponsor
of terrorism amid criticism that it was accepting a weak agreement to make a rare
diplomatic achievement in its waning months.
McCormack said Hill is back home and discussed the matter with Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice.
"He's going to continue his consultations with respect to the six-party talks,"
the spokesman said. "And I would also just reiterate one point that we made
yesterday, and that is that this is an action-for-action process."
White House press secretary Dana Perino Thursday said the administration regrets
that North Korea failed to agree to the verification regime, saying, "There was
an open door, and all they had to do was walk through it."
Analysts say the North has no intention of dealing further with the outgoing Bush
administration, and is awaiting the inauguration of Barack Obama.
In an apparent effort not to provoke the North further, U.S. officials stopped
short of threatening to put the North back on the terrorism list, citing legal
procedures.
Reports said North Korea may stop disabling its nuclear facilities again, as it
did in August, if oil shipments stop.
Despite a clock ticking down to Jan. 20, when Bush is replaced by Obama,
McCormack expressed hope for a development.
"In the meantime, Chris, for example, will continue his consultations with the
South Korean counterparts, with Japanese, Russian and Chinese counterparts as
well," he said. "So that possibility exists that the process can move forward."
hdh@yna.co.kr
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