-Caveat Lector- washingtonpost.com Wednesday, October 23, 2002; Page A21
U.S. Allows Delivery Of Oil to North Korea Nuclear Confession Elicits Restraint By Mike Allen and Glenn Kessler Washington Post Staff Writers The Bush administration allowed a previously scheduled delivery of heavy fuel oil to North Korea last week after the Pyongyang government admitted it was violating an arms control agreement by trying to build a nuclear bomb, administration officials said yesterday. The decision not to abort the delivery reflected Washington's restrained reaction to the North Korean confession, a stance that will continue over the next week as President Bush meets with leaders of China, Japan, Russia and South Korea to work out an acceptable way to increase pressure on North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. The White House had vowed to go after Iraq alone if necessary. But a senior administration official told reporters that the United States will enlist the cooperation of other powers in the region to try to force North Korea to destroy its nuclear weapons program. The official said Washington will not formally renounce its 1994 arms agreement with North Korea, nor cut off oil shipments, without making an effort to "ensure that we are in lockstep with our northeast Asian allies." "People will be wondering, 'Well, why aren't we moving more quickly to take such-and-such a step?' " the official said. "We have to make sure that we work with our allies and make sure that they're comfortable with it and move at the same speed we do." Though the North Koreans told U.S. officials on Oct. 4 that the 1994 agreement was "nullified," the administration allowed the delivery to North Korean ports on Friday of 43,500 tons of heavy fuel oil as required under the agreement. "It was previously scheduled," the official said. "The next one is scheduled in about a month." The official said no decision has been made about how to handle the next shipment, but others in the administration said it would not occur. Another senior administration official said the administration decided not to block the shipment because officials "are looking at everything very carefully right now." He said that rather than halting various parts of the aid at different points, "[we] want to do it as one package" after consulting with allies. Offloading of the shipment began the day after the administration disclosed North Korea's admission that it had started a secret nuclear weapons program, officials said. Brian Kremer, a spokesman for the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization, which manages the agreement, said the delivery is still being processed and will be completed this week. Three months ago, the administration concluded that North Korea had a secret nuclear program in violation of the 1994 agreement to shutter a plutonium nuclear reactor in exchange for 3.3 million barrels (500,000 tons) of annual oil deliveries and the construction of two light-water reactors. The oil shipments are made on a monthly basis, at a cost to U.S. taxpayers of about $100 million a year. A Democratic congressional aide said: "Democrats aren't screaming about it because we think the administration probably made the right decision." But he suggested that Republican critics of the 1994 agreement are letting the Bush administration off easy. "Can you imagine the uproar if Bill Clinton had let the deliveries to go forward if he had been told the agreement was nullified?" he asked. North Korea's bomb-making confession shot to the top of Bush's agenda for meetings at his Texas ranch on Friday with Chinese President Jiang Zemin and in Mexico this weekend with the leaders of Japan, Russia and South Korea. The United States will eventually insist on a "visible and verifiable dismantling" of North Korea's plutonium and uranium-enrichment programs to ensure that no nuclear weapon is built, the senior official told reporters. "To be in compliance with their obligations, they cannot possess nuclear weapons," the official said. "That's the standard." But Washington is starting gingerly, unsure of what it can attain. The official said that at this weekend's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference in Mexico, the United States will try to elicit statements of condemnation and concern from each of the countries but will not seek pledges by the nations to cut aid to North Korea, for instance. The official said the United States wants to increase the pressure and to see how North Korea reacts before taking more severe steps. "We don't have an exact game plan right now," the official said. "What we're looking for are strong statements saying that this action is unacceptable, it is a threat to regional peace and security, the program has to be rolled back. We are not at the stage yet to discuss further items -- economic sanctions." The official acknowledged that verification would be difficult if North Korea agrees to dismantle its weapons facilities. "There's a lot we don't know about North Korea," the official said. Staff writer Karen DeYoung contributed to this report. © 2002 The Washington Post Company <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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