North Korea says slows down disabling nuclear plant
Reuters | 11/12/2008 11:01 PM
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SEOUL – North Korea said on Wednesday it has slowed the pace of disablement work at its key nuclear reactor because it is not getting compensated in a timely manner.
North Korea agreed last month to resume disabling its Soviet-era Yongbyon nuclear plant, which makes arms-grade plutonium, and allow in inspectors to verify claims it made about its atomic arms program after the United States removed it from a terrorism blacklist and rolled back some trade sanctions.
"The DPRK (North Korea) is reacting to the delayed fulfillment of the economic compensation by five parties with the measure of cutting down half the tempo of unloading the spent fuel rods on the principle of 'action for action'," its KCNA news agency quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying.
As a part of a deal it reached with China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States, the energy-starved North was to receive one million metric tons of heavy fuel oil, or aid of equal value for freezing operations at Yongbyon. It has received about half that amount so far.
Japan has so far refused to give energy aid to North Korea because of a dispute over abducted Japanese citizens but Tokyo is under pressure from Seoul to deliver the promised aid.
"In case the economic compensation continues to be delayed, the tempo of the disablement will be decreased accordingly, making it hard to predict the prospect of the six-party talks," the spokesman said.
Most of the disablement steps, which were started last year and are aimed at taking a year to reverse, have been completed. One of the remaining steps is discharging irradiated fuel rods from the reactor at Yongbyon.
Reclusive North Korea said separately on Wednesday it would close its land border with the South from next month, largely putting a stop to the few exchanges that exist between the states divided since the Cold War.
The move follows growing anger in Pyongyang at the hardline approach of the South's conservative government over its nuclear weapons program. It accused its wealthy neighbor of taking their confrontation "beyond the danger level."
