DATE=10/5/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=KEDO MEETING (L-O)
NUMBER=2-254681
BYLINE=ELAINE JOHANSON
DATELINE=NEW YORK
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:


INTRO:  Governments trying to eliminate suspected 
nuclear weapons programs in North Korea say 
construction of a safer light-water reactor in the 
North is likely to begin shortly.  Representatives of 
the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization - 
known by its acronym, KEDO - opened their annual 
meeting in New York today (Tuesday).  V-O-A 
correspondent Elaine Johanson reports:


TEXT:  It's part of a deal North Korea and the United 
States signed in 1994.  North Korea would freeze and 
eventually dismantle its suspected nuclear weapons 
programs as well as stop all new reactor construction.  
In return, North Korea would be provided with 
alternative energy, initially heavy oil, but finally 
two light-water nuclear reactors.  The light-water 
reactor is considered a safer alternative because it 
produces much less plutonium - a key ingredient in 
making atomic weapons.

This current meeting of the KEDO group - its main 
members are the United States, South Korea and Japan - 
is said to involve many of the routine matters KEDO 
discusses every year, such as the annual budget.  But 
it comes in the context of recent tensions over North 
Korea's testing of long-range-range ballistic 
missiles.  The United States apparently persuaded 
Pyongyang to suspend that program.

And now, it seems the long-awaited construction of the 
first of two light-water reactors in North Korea is in 
sight.  KEDO chairman, Charles Kartman of the United 
States, opened the annual meeting with that assurance:

            /// Kartman act ///

      With financial arrangements between KEDO and the 
      governments of the Republic of Korea and Japan 
      in place, KEDO is hopeful that the turn-key 
      contract for the LWR (light-water reactor) 
      project with its prime contractor, the Korea 
      Electric Power Corporation, will enter into 
      effect in the very near future, enabling the 
      start of full-scale construction.

            /// end act ///

While South Korea has pledged to pay the bulk of 
expenses for the new reactors, KEDO solicits help from 
all interested nations to help keep North Korea 
supplied with heavy oil in the interim.  Many 
countries have signed up - most recently France, Italy 
and Mexico.  Meanwhile, the Czech Republic has become 
the newest member of KEDO. (Signed)

NEB/NY/EJ/LSF/JP




05-Oct-1999 14:16 PM EDT (05-Oct-1999 1816 UTC)
NNNN

Source: Voice of America
.