Psalm 105:28 He sent darkness, and made it dark; and they rebelled not
against his word.
South Korea promises electricity to North
Move would come after nuclear deal
By Glenn Kessler, Washington Post | July 13, 2005
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South Korea announced yesterday that if North Korea gives up its
nuclear weapons, it would supply North Korea with enough electricity to
replace two nuclear reactors that would have been provided under a now
scuttled 1994 agreement between North Korea and the Clinton
administration.
The offer, which South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong Young
called a ''last chance" for the government in Pyongyang, was detailed
by South Korean officials as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
arrived here last night for talks on the last leg of her East Asia
tour.
The South Korean proposal, advanced by Chung to North Korean leader Kim
Jung Il on June 17, had been previously described only in vague terms
to US officials. A senior US official traveling with Rice said US
officials were interested to learn more about the idea and wanted to
figure out if it could be folded into a US proposal advanced in June
2004 at six-nation talks to end the impasse over North Korea's weapons.
That proposal offered a vague plan to study North Korea's energy needs,
and the official acknowledged that the South Korean idea provided a new
level of specificity for Pyongyang.
Rice had a working dinner with South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki
Moon last night and plans additional talks today before flying back to
Washington. She flew here from Tokyo and held talks in Beijing, with
much of the discussion focused on how to persuade North Korea to give
up its weapons.
The South Korean plan is believed to have been a factor in Pyongyang's
decision to return to the negotiating table after boycotting the talks
for more than a year. Early last month, North Korean officials told US
officials they were ready to return to the talks, but they did not
agree to a date until Rice arrived in Beijing Saturday.
The new electricity could be delivered by 2008 after infrastructure is
built, Chung said. He said North Korea, which has a decrepit electrical
grid and desperately needs energy assistance, has not directly
responded to the proposal.
Bush administration officials have said they are pleased Chung told Kim
that the $5 billion project to build light-water reactors in North
Korea was dead, because they felt that it still posed a proliferation
risk.
Clinton administration officials have privately said they agreed to the
plan in 1994 only because they thought the North Korean government
would collapse before the project was completed.
South Korea also said it would immediately give the government in
Pyongyang a large infusion of aid, including 500,000 tons of rice, raw
materials for shoes, clothing and soap, assistance in renovating mines
and help in accelerating the development of rail lines at an industrial
park.
Speaking to reporters after meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister
Nobutaka Machimura in Tokyo, Rice supported the South Korean agreement,
saying it responded to a ''humanitarian disaster" in North Korea.
Meanwhile, Rice said she backed Japan's efforts to press for answers on
North Korea's abductions of Japanese citizens as part of six-nation
talks on North Korea's nuclear programs, even as China and South Korea
said the issue was a bilateral dispute.
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