[Editorial] North May Get Fuel Oil in Nov., But

What we have worried is being realized. North Korea will no longer receive fuel oil. The KEDO member countries, in the session held yesterday, agreed to provide North with the fuel oil only for Nov. Unless North Korea abandons its nuclear weapons program in advance, however, they promised, they would not provide any more. The situation is getting more and more dire. Nonetheless, North Korea keeps silence and Kim Dae Jung administration seems quite busy defending and speaking for North in the global meetings. We are really worried what the future has in store for us in this respect.

The United States government does not seem to budge a bit on its hard-line position. The spokesperson for the US National Security Council definitively said, "We will teach North Korea that bad acts do not pay at all." Several days ago, the European Council adopted a resolution demanding the overhauling of the current KEDO program and its aids to North. Like this, the global community is demanding in a unified voice the abandonment of North Korea`s nuclear weapons program.

But Kim Dae Jung administration sees the situation totally differently. Unification Minister Chong Sea-hyun alleged prior to the session, "Aid of fuel oil should be continued until next January." The administration is siding itself with North against all the oppositions from around the world. It`s simply wrong. After the remarks, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade rolled up the sleeves to calm down the world before the session opened. With the minister in charge of North Korean policies thinking this way, how could we expect the cooperation of the United States in resolving this issue?

Everything`s dependent upon North Korea. What North does in the future could keep the aid up and running, or discard the KEDO program itself. So far, all we have got from North is disappointment. Lately, it was reported that North Korea also retains biological weapons. Which country would believe in North when all it does is to break the international trust and agreements?

North should discard its nuclear weapons program once and for all, as demanded by the United States. That is the only way North could overcome this crisis and come back as a regular member of the global society. Iraq could be an illuminating example from which North can learn a big lesson. Iraq, after its attempts to confront with the world`s superpower US, caved in and agreed to accept the unconditioned weapons inspection by the UN. North should know better.