Home>News Center>World
             
     

    US, partners end North Korea nuke project
    (AP)
    Updated: 2005-11-23 11:24

    The United States and its partners on Tuesday dealt the death blow to a project to build two light-water atomic reactors for North Korea to entice it into dismantling its nuclear weapons program, officials said.

    The decade-old light-water reactor project had been mothballed for the last two years, kept barely alive in case North Korea showed signs of resuming International Atomic Energy Agency inspections and liquidating its ambitious self-proclaimed nuclear weapons program.

    The New York-based Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization, also known as KEDO, did not issue any formal statement at the end of a two-day session of executive board meetings Tuesday.

    But the U.S. delegate, Ambassador Joseph DiTrani, said after the meeting that the board members — the United States, South Korea, Japan and European Union — had agreed on the "termination" of the light-water reactor project, KEDO spokesman Brian Kremer confirmed.

    The decision comes at a particularly delicate moment in the fitful series of six-nation talks aimed at disarming North Korea. The fifth round of talks among the two Koreas, the United States, Russian, China and Japan ended Nov. 11 without signs of major progress.

    Charles Kartman, the American who was executive director of KEDO from 2001 until this August, said North Korea must have anticipated KEDO's demise.

    "There's no surprise here for North Korea. They've been setting up their obstacles" for weeks and in September had revived their demand for the reactors, Kartman said.

    At the end of the fourth round of six-way talks in September, North Korea pledged in principle to disarm but maintained that it would need light-water reactors to provide electricity beforehand. Fulfilling that demand would postpone effective disarmament for several years.

    At a summit of Asian and Pacific leaders last week, President Bush said no reactors would be considered before the North gives up its nuclear weapons program.

    Meanwhile, North Korea says it is escalating its nuclear weapons development program, the problem that spiked both Korean crises in recent years — in 1993-1994 and again in 2002 through today.

    A shutdown of the Yongbyon research reactor in 1989 and reactor slowdowns in 1990-1991 are believed to have yielded enough plutonium to build two or three bombs, a situation that the Clinton administration considered so threatening that it brought the United States and North Korea close to war in 1994.

    A bilateral nuclear inspection accord and deal to build two monitored light-water reactors cooled tensions and led to the KEDO project.

    Last May, North Korea's Foreign Ministry said the country had the ability to harvest still more weapons-grade plutonium and "bolster its nuclear arsenal."

    "You have to assume the North Koreans have weaponized the plutonium," Kartman said.

    Under the agreement that formed the KEDO project, North Korea was to abandon nuclear weapons development and allow access by International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors, in exchange for 500,000 tons of heavy fuel oil annually from the United States to meet its energy shortage until it got the two light-water atomic power plants, built and paid for primarily by South Korea and Japan, with some EU funding.

    The program was frozen in 2002 after the United States claimed North Korea had embarked on a second, secret weapons-development program. Evidence to back the claim has never been publicly disclosed.



    Ukraine marks 'orange revolution' anniversary
    Merkel named first female chancellor in Germany
    Anti-nuclear protesters in Germany
     
      Today's Top News     Top World News
     

    CPC not pursuing a road of tyranny - scholar

     

       
     

    Harbin cuts water supply for pollution fear

     

       
     

    China confirmed three new bird flu outbreaks

     

       
     

    Ministry denies ordering Japan bullet trains

     

       
     

    Japan LDP seeks to lift ban on having military

     

       
     

    China may revise 'green card' procedures

     

       
      US, partners end North Korea nuke project
       
      Iran president confirms retaliation if sent to UN
       
      EU investigator seeks data on CIA planes
       
      Suicide bomber kills 21 in Iraq; 3 GIs die
       
      Suspect in Bush assassination plot convicted
       
      UN: More hungry in Africa than in '90s
       
     
      Go to Another Section  
     
     
      Story Tools  
       
      Related Stories  
       
    Iran president confirms retaliation if sent to UN
       
    Bush, South Korea's Roh united on nukes
       
    North Korea proposed five-step plan to disarm at latest talks
      News Talk  
      Are the Republicans exploiting the memory of 9/11?  
    Manufacturers, Exporters, Wholesalers - Global trade starts here.
    Advertisement
             
    亚洲AⅤ永久无码精品AA| 亚洲精品无码久久千人斩| 亚洲精品无码永久中文字幕| 欧美日本道中文高清| 亚洲av日韩av无码黑人| 日本精品久久久久中文字幕| 中文字幕无码久久久| 人妻少妇乱子伦无码视频专区| 精品久久久无码中文字幕| 国产 亚洲 中文在线 字幕| 精品无码国产自产拍在线观看| 99精品人妻无码专区在线视频区| 一本大道香蕉中文日本不卡高清二区| a最新无码国产在线视频| 亚洲AV无码成人精品区在线观看| 亚洲欧美中文日韩V在线观看| 天堂а√在线中文在线最新版 | 中文字幕乱码久久午夜| JLZZJLZZ亚洲乱熟无码| 亚洲AV日韩AV永久无码绿巨人| 中文字幕无码高清晰| 超清中文乱码字幕在线观看| 岛国av无码免费无禁网| 人妻丰满av无码中文字幕| 亚洲AV无码久久精品色欲| 中文字幕丰满乱孑伦无码专区| 综合久久久久久中文字幕亚洲国产国产综合一区首 | 亚洲中文久久精品无码ww16| 久久亚洲AV无码西西人体| av一区二区人妻无码| 超清纯白嫩大学生无码网站| 国产真人无码作爱视频免费| 无码一区二区三区老色鬼| 无码欧精品亚洲日韩一区| 亚洲VA中文字幕无码毛片| 亚洲成a人片在线观看无码专区| 中文无码成人免费视频在线观看| 国产成人无码区免费内射一片色欲 | 亚洲中文字幕无码中文字在线| 久久亚洲精品无码aⅴ大香| 无码av高潮喷水无码专区线|