Uzbeks to work on KEDO reactors in N. Korea

In early March, 250 Uzbeks will begin work on the Korean Energy Development Organization (KEDO) project to build light-water reactors in the Shinpo-Kumho area of South Hamkyong province in North Korea. An agreement to that effect was signed between the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), main contractor of the reactor project, and the Uzbek government, a member of the project planning staff here said Friday. The accord was made in accordance with Clause 2, Article 3 of the KEDO service protocol, which stipulates that workers from a KEDO member should be used to carry out reactor construction.

The personnel change was necessitated by the withdrawal of 100 out of 200 North Koreans from the building site in a wage dispute. They demanded last April that the monthly pay for each unskilled North Korean worker be raised to $600 from $110, the amount they had been paid from the outset. Since KEDO had only agreed with North Korea on an annual pay raise of 2.5 percent, it could not meet the North Korean demand, KEDO officials here said.

The Uzbek laborers are expected to receive about the same amount as was given the North Koreans around $110 a month. At present, 100 North Koreans work together with 700 South Koreans at the reactor plant site.