|
||||||||
  |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bush warns N. Korea on fuel shipments
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Bush administration has thrown down the gauntlet to North Korea, warning that unless it ends its nuclear weapons program the U.S. will not support future shipments of heavy fuel oil. At the same time, officials say, President Bush has decided to allow a November shipment by the Korean Energy Development Organization (KEDO), already en route to the North, to go ahead. The fuel shipments were part of a 1994 agreement in which North Korea received oil and two light-water nuclear reactors in exchange for shutting down nuclear facilities capable of producing weapons grade material. In October however, North Korea admitted to a visiting U.S. delegation that it had continued with efforts to produce nuclear weapons, despite the agreement. The oil shipments were intended to tide over North Korea's energy needs, pending the completion of two advanced light water reactors being constructed in the North by KEDO. The president's decision threatening to suspend came the oil deliveries during a meeting Wednesday of the president's national security team at the White House. Jack Pritchard, the Bush administration's envoy for negotiations with North Korea, will relay the U.S. decision at a board meeting of KEDO members in New York on Thursday. 'Consensus'KEDO is made up of representatives from Japan, South Korea, the European Union and the United States. "The board has always operated on consensus and we have consulted very closely with our allies during this process and we'll continue to talk to them at the board meeting," State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher said Wednesday. "We always prefer to work these things out together with our partners." The administration is also grappling with what to do about Pakistan's support for North Korea's nuclear program, detailed in a report in the Washington Post Wednesday. Boucher pointed to comments made by Secretary of State Colin Powell on NBC's Meet the Press last month, in which he said that President Musharraf had assured him that Pakistan was not assisting the North Korean nuclear programs. "What happened before that date we have no comment on," Boucher said 'Appropriate' action
Questioned on whether Pakistan might have broken U.S. laws against recipients of U.S. aid engaged in proliferation activities, Boucher said no action would de decided until a full inquiry had been completed. "We'll follow the laws, as appropriate, including using any particular waivers that might exist, but I'm sure we would look at that and decide what was the appropriate course to take," he said. Officials tell CNN an inter-agency team of senior administration officials will gather at the White House Thursday to address Pakistan's proliferation activities. In addition, Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs Christina Rocca and Assistant Secretary for Non-Proliferation John Wolfe will brief members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. They are expected to focus on whether current revelations about Islamabad's proliferation activities should affect waivers on certain U.S. sanctions on Pakistan, most of which were suspended due to Pakistan's support for the war on terrorism. -- CNN State Department correspondent Andrea Koppel and producer Elise Labott contributed to this report
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
