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Nuclear Plant Project in NK to Be Suspended

2003-11-13

Executive board members of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) will implement their decision to halt work at a nuclear power plant construction site in North Korea starting early next month and effective for a year.

An official decision of the four members, South Korea, the United States, Japan and the European Union, will be announced on Nov. 21. They will convene a working-level meeting soon to discuss details of the suspension.

Despite the decision, Chang Sun-sup, chairman of the KEDO executive board, told reporters on Wednesday (Nov. 12) that the suspension of construction, decided during a meeting in New York earlier this month, is open to reversal if the nuclear weapons standoff in North Korea takes a turn for the better.

"Suspension doesn't mean termination. It means we are bound to restart the project sometime," said the South Korean representative to KEDO. Once the nuclear crisis improves, work will naturally resume, he added.

Financial burden resulting from the development freeze will be minimal, as the existing contract KEDO signed with the companies involved allows for a suspension up to 18 months, according to Chang.

"Even if we suspend the project, it doesn't mean work stops 100 percent," he said. Dozens of workers will remain to protect results of the work done so far.

Charles Kartman, KEDO's executive director, will go to Pyongyang this Saturday to conduct negotiations with North Korea on the organization's behalf, explaining the inevitability of the decision.

Kartman will discuss with the North Korean officials on the future of materials and facilities for the construction of two light-water nuclear power plants. North Korea recently threatened to take some data and equipment from the site in protest of the suspension.

As the biggest financier of the $4.6 billion project, South Korea stands to lose all of the $931 million it has invested so far if the project is scrapped for good.

The U.S., however, has said it sees "no future" for the project and has made little secret of its hopes to terminate the scheme altogether.

In such case, Seoul could pick up an additional tab of several hundred million dollars, as the breach-of-contract damages KEDO must pay to the companies is estimated at between $300-$500 million.

Source : www.korea.net