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SLUG: 2-299739 North Korea / Nuclear
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DATE=02/18/2003 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT NUMBER=2-299739 TITLE=NORTH KOREA / NUCLEAR (S) BYLINE=STEVEN SHAYMAN DATELINE=TOKYO CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: North Korea is threatening to pull out of the armistice agreement that ended the Korean War. As we hear from Steven Shayman in Tokyo, Pyongyang is accusing the United States of breaking the terms of the truce. TEXT: Tuesday's statement by the official Korean Central News Agency accuses the Unite States of breaking the 1953 truce by bolstering its forces in the region and mounting a naval blockade. There was no immediate comment from the Seoul-based and U-S-led United Nations Command that oversees the armistice. Tensions have ratcheted up considerably over the past few months, as Pyongyang removed U-N nuclear monitoring equipment from the Stalinist state's atomic facilities and pulled out of a treaty to curb the spread of nuclear weapons.
The North Koreans say they only intend to generate electricity and that the matter is a bilateral dispute with Washington. But Pyongyang's actions have led the International Atomic Energy Agency to refer the matter to the U-N Security Council. The Bush administration has rejected North Korean demands for bilateral talks on a non-aggression pact unless Pyongyang first gives up its nuclear weapons program. U-S intelligence agencies are reported to hold the view that North Korea already has enough plutonium for one or two weapons. // REST OPT // The current crisis accelerated in December, when South Korea, Japan, the European Union and the United States - under the auspices of the Korean Peninsula Energy Program, or KEDO, agreed to stop oil shipments to punish the Stalinist state for secretly developing nuclear weapons.
North Korean envoys in Asia had previously warned that a halt in the oil shipments could trigger an angry response. (SIGNED) NEB/SGS/MAR |
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