Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DPRK FM Spokesman Demands U.S. Compensate for Political and Economic Losses

Korean Central News Agency of DPRK via Korea News Service (KNS)

   Pyongyang, November 28 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the DPRK Foreign Ministry gave the following answer to a question raised by KCNA Monday as regards a total stop to the construction of the light water reactors (LWRs) under the DPRK-U.S. Agreed Framework (AF): The U.S. and the KEDO made a final decision on Nov. 22 to completely stop the construction of LWRs which has been held off for the past nearly two years. The KEDO thus ceased to exist and the construction of LWRs came to a final stop. This is what the DPRK has already anticipated.
    As a matter of fact, the Bush administration has suspended the construction of the reactors for the nearly two years since it took the measure to stop the provision of heavy fuel oil in a bid to scrap the AF. The final stop to the construction of LWRs was, therefore, just a matter of time. The U.S. has thus completely pulled out of the AF, causing huge economic losses to the DPRK.
    All the facts go to clearly prove that the DPRK was quite just when it demanded the U.S. abide by the principle of simultaneous actions in handling the issue of the latter's provision of LWRs and the former's abandonment of its nuclear program, a physical groundwork for building confidence between the two countries.
    Now that the construction of the LWRs came to a final stop, the DPRK is compelled to blame the U.S. for having overturned the AF and demand it compensate for the political and economic losses it has caused to the former.