U.S. to phase out oil deliveries to North Korea

The Associated PressWASHINGTON -- President Bush is suspending oil assistance to North Korea in response to Pyongyang's violation of a pledge not to develop nuclear weapons, administration officials say.

Bush made the decision during a meeting with his national security team Wednesday night ahead of a key conclave of allied governments Thursday in New York City on the North Korean situation.

There was little support in the administration or in the Congress for continuing the eight-year old oil assistance program following the North's acknowledgment last month that it was secretly developing a uranium-based bomb.

Bush's only concession was to agree to allow a vessel already en route to North Korea to deliver what would be the last U.S. oil shipment unless Pyongyang decides to dismantle its nuclear weapons program.

Thursday's meeting was to include officials from the United States, South Korea, Japan and the European Union. They comprise the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization, which was founded after North Korea signed an agreement with the United States in 1994 pledging to become a nuclear weapons-free state.

In exchange, the United States promised to provide more than 500,000 tons of heavy oil per year. In addition, South Korea and Japan offered to pay most of the cost for two light water nuclear reactors that are of limited use for a country intent on developing nuclear weapons.

The fate of that project is up in the air.

The U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said American diplomats have been assured the EU and Japan will back Bush's plan at the New York meeting and that South Korea will go along with some version of it.

The governments in Seoul and Tokyo had been recommending that the shipments continue because they are concerned that North Korea could retaliate by reviving a plutonium-based nuclear weapons program that it froze in 1994. The program has been under supervision by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

South Korean President Kim Dae-jung has pursued a policy of accommodation with the North, contending that a confrontational approach has failed.

Secretary of State Colin Powell, while ruling out renewed talks with North Korea for the time being, said last week he does not object to Japanese and South Korean contacts with the North. He noted that the two U.S. allies are within range of the North's considerable military might.

The Bush administration has sought to move in lockstep with Japan and South Korea on North Korea policy but at times this goal has been elusive, particularly given the contrasting views between dovish South Korea and the more hawkish Americans.

Bush caused anxiety in Seoul in January when he designated North Korea as a member of an international "axis of evil" along with Iraq and Iran.

North Korea acknowledged its uranium bomb program on Oct. 4 during a meeting with U.S. officials in Pyongyang. In late October, North Korea offered to negotiate a non-aggression pact with the United States but Powell has said there can be no discussion until Pyongyang dismantles its nuclear program promptly and verifiably.

The U.S. administration is hopeful that the destitute North will rethink its nuclear policies once it is convinced that the outside world will stand in uniform opposition to offering Pyongyang economic benefits so long as it continues its nuclear programs.

The CIA believes North Korea has at least one plutonium-based bomb from an earlier nuclear program. Powell said last week that the North's nuclear weapons arsenal could be increased in a matter of months if Pyongyang decides to reprocess the plutonium now under the supervision of the IAEA.

Some U.S. officials are concerned that the North may take that step in response to Bush's suspension of the oil shipments. If that occurs, a full-blown crisis on the peninsula could develop, these officials believe.