KEDO, Suspension of Providing N.K. with Heavy Oil Starting in December

The Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO), consisting of South Korea, the US, Japan and the EU, is reported to have held a executive board meeting in New York and decided to provide the November shipment of heavy oil to North Korea as scheduled.

However, it decided that if the North did not abandon its nuclear weapons program, it would suspend the provision of fuel oil starting in December.

A government official said that the three nations-S.K., the US and Japan-were scheduled to hold a meeting to discuss the light water reactor project after the executive board meeting ended, which suggests that they will review the light water reactor project along with fuel oil aid for December.

Before this, US officials said on Nov. 13 that the ship with 42,500 tons of fuel oil heading for Nampo port in North Korea would arrive as scheduled but they would suspend the oil aid starting in December.

They added that they reached that conclusion in a meeting of related government agencies ahead of a KEDO executive board meeting.

Sean McCormack, the US White House` National Security Council spokesman, said, "We will continue negotiations with Japan, South Korea and the EU in order to find a common approach to the North. However, we will make Pyongyang realize that the situation has changed and that it will not be rewarded any more with its bad acts."

Young-Sik Kim spear@donga.com