N. Korea nuclear pact praised
N. Korea nuclear pact praised
JAKARTA (Reuter): The leaders of the United States, South
Korea and Japan used a joint meeting in Jakarta last night to
hail the importance of the U.S.-North Korean nuclear pact.
"They strongly endorsed the...agreed framework for settling
the nuclear issue, which opens the way to a new era of stability
and increased prosperity in the region," a joint statement issued
after the meeting said.
U.S. President Bill Clinton, South Korean President Kim Young-
sam and Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama held their
meeting on the eve of a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) forum.
"The three leaders shared the view that the security of the
Korean peninsula is essential to the stability and prosperity of
the region and affirmed the importance of the continued role for
the United States in ensuring security in this part of the
world," the statement said.
The mini-summit, held immediately after they attended a dinner
hosted by President Soeharto to kick off the APEC leaders
meeting, followed a series of bilateral meetings between the
leaders earlier in the day.
The Korean issue also featured prominently when Clinton and
Murayama met separately with Chinese President Jiang Zemin, who
is also in town for the APEC meeting.
At an earlier press briefing, Clinton said the leaders "all
said they strongly supported the agreement and that they thought
it was very important that we continue to work it through" in
close coordination.
"They understood that the implementation of the agreement
would not be without difficulty and it would require a lot of
efforts on several fronts."
The accord, signed by North Korea and the United States on
Oct. 21 in Geneva, commits Pyongyang to freeze and then dismantle
its nuclear program in return for more than $4 billion in new
nuclear technology and interim energy supplies.
The two parties have set up a series of working groups to
decide how to implement the pact.
They began with a meeting in Pyongyang last weekend of U.S.
and North Korean experts who will decide what to do with 8,000
spent nuclear fuel rods in a North Korean holding pond.
On Friday, U.S., South Korean and Japanese officials meet in
Washington to set up an international consortium, the Korean
Energy Development Organization (KEDO), to underwrite Pyongyang's
$4 billion shift from graphite nuclear reactors.
The graphite reactors, which make it easy to divert fuel for
nuclear weapons, will be replaced by light-water reactors, which
are less susceptible to proliferation.
South Korea and Japan are expected to bear the lion's share of
the cost of the project. Just how much each will pay must still
must be agreed and a senior U.S. official acknowledged yesterday
that this would be a "tough issue."
China may not help finance the agreement but as the only
country with any real influence in Pyongyang, its backing was
important in reaching the accord and will continue to be critical
in ensuring North Korea honors its commitments.
Chinese President Jiang Zemin told Clinton "there are no
differences between the United States and the Chinese on the
Korean issue," said one U.S. official. Jiang also stressed his
agreement with Washington on the need for North Korea to resume a
dialog with the South.