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KCNA Blasts U.S. and KEDO's Total Stoppage of LWR Construction

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

   Pyongyang, December 6 (KCNA) -- The U.S. and the KEDO finally decided on Nov. 22 to completely stop the construction of the Light Water Reactors (LWRs) which they promised to provide to the DPRK. The U.S. had held off the construction for nearly two years since its suspension of the supply of heavy fuel oil to the DPRK. It has now totally stopped it. The U.S. has thus pulled out of the 1994 DPRK-U.S. Agreed Framework (AF), causing huge economic losses to the DPRK.
    The keynote of the AF is the U.S. commitment to provide LWRs to the DPRK in return for its nuclear freeze.
    Under the AF the U.S. was obliged to provide two LWRs each with the generating capacity of 2,000 MW to the DPRK by the year 2003 and supply 500,000 tons of heavy fuel oil to it on an annual basis in return for its freeze of graphite moderated reactors, the first one with the generating capacity of 50,000 KW and the second one with that of 200,000 KW.
    After the conclusion of the AF the DPRK promptly took the measure to freeze its nuclear facilities, allowed the inspection of freeze and fully implemented its commitments such as the total lift of all sanctions it took against the U.S. within the date fixed.
    The DPRK, prompted by its willingness to settle the nuclear issue between the DPRK and the U.S. and build the relations of confidence with it through compliance with the AF, made a bold political decision to totally stop the project to generate 2,000 MW of nuclear energy and other major projects under construction due to be completed by 2003 under its plan to develop independent nuclear power industry.
    The U.S., however, has delayed the LWR construction from the outset under various pretexts and remained unchanged in pursuing the hostile policy toward the DPRK while maintaining economic sanctions against it. This was a systematic breach of the major provisions of the AF. It broke the ground for the construction of LWRs as late as in August, 1997, more than one year behind the date scheduled, and deliberately delayed the construction. A ceremony of concrete tamping was held as late as in August, 2002, shortly before the time the project was originally scheduled to be wound up.
    The U.S. increased its pressure upon the DPRK over its nuclear issue while spreading in a phased manner the fiction of "enriched uranium program" concocted by it. Finally on Nov. 14, 2002 it stopped the provision of heavy fuel oil and on Dec. 1, 2003 it suspended the construction of the LWRs. By bringing the LWR construction to a complete stop after delaying it under this or that pretext the U.S. totally scrapped the AF. All the facts go to clearly prove that the DPRK was entirely right when it called for observing the principle of simultaneous actions for the provision of the LWRs and the abandonment of the nuclear program, a physical basis for building confidence between the two sides.
    Any dealing with the U.S. should be based on the principle of simultaneous actions.
    Now that the construction of LWRs came to a total halt, the U.S. is obliged to own its responsibility for scrapping the AF and compensate for the political and economic losses caused to the DPRK.