NK Give Priority To Electricity Supplement

Responding to the U.S.`s proposal to resume the U.S.-NK dialogue, North Korea made a counterproposal to give priority to the discussion on the compensation for the loss of the electric power caused by the delayed construction of light-water reactors. The U.S. proposal was originally intended to verify the North Korean nuclear weapons and missiles and to reduce the military threat of the North Korean conventional weapons.

The response of the North was made for the first time after the U.S. President George W. Bush`s statement on the U.S.`s North Korea policy on June 6.

According to the Chosun Central Broadcast, the spokesperson of the North Foreign Ministry stated, ``by the delayed supply of the light-water reactors, the North-U.S. Agreed Framework is in danger of its validity. To resolve the problem, the priority agenda to be discussed must be about the compensation for the loss of electric power caused by the delayed construction of light-water reactors.

The North appreciated the U.S.`s proposal for the unconditional resumption of the North-U.S. dialogue, stating ``it is noteworthy of the U.S.`s proposal for the resumption of the North-U.S. dialogue, which the U.S. unilaterally suspended for past 4 months. However, the true intention of the U.S. is questionable.``

And the statement of the North refused the agendas proposed by the U.S., criticizing that ``the U.S. unilaterally picked up agendas and publicly proposed them even before the both encountered for the dialogue. Those agendas, which include the issues of the nuclear power, missiles, and the conventional military power, are simply proposed to demilitarize us.

The statement specifically emphasized that, since the conventional military power of the North is the least self-defense measure to protect the North from the threats created by the U.S. and its allies, it can not even be an agenda for a discussion until the U.S. army retreat from the Korean peninsula.

The North also added that, if the U.S. really wanted to resume the dialogue by giving up its hostile policies to the North, the U.S. must have picked up the agendas to discuss the practical measures to carry out the Agreed Framework and the North-U.S. Joint Communiqué, which both had already agreed.

Bush stated on June 6 that the U.S. will discuss with the North on the resolutions for the North Korean nuclear weapon, the verification and the control of the North`s missile plans, and the North Korean conventional military postures.

Kim Young-Sik spear@donga.com