Wolseong Nuclear Power Plant in Yangnam-myeon, Gyeongju, Gyeongbuk on the 18th. Gyeongju = Yonhap News
Energy assistance to North Korea, including the construction of nuclear power plants, is not a new story. This is because North Korea, suffering from chronic power shortages, has requested as compensation for every major denuclearization talk in the past. There was a time when an international organization was created to promote the construction of a light water reactor type nuclear power plant, but the basic premise, North Korea’s nuclear abandonment, did not come true and it ended in failure.
Construction of the’Geneva Agreement’ light water reactor that was destroyed by the second North Korean nuclear crisis
It was during the Kim Young-sam administration that the construction of the’Korean-type nuclear power plant’ was actually started in North Korea. After North Korea’s declaration of withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1993, the two countries facing the negotiating table agreed to resolve the nuclear issue the following year in Geneva, Germany. It was said that North Korea would build two 1 million kW class light water reactors in exchange for freezing and dismantling its nuclear facilities. To implement this, Korea, the United States, and Japan established the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) in 1995 and began construction of a light water reactor in Sinpo, South Hamgyeong Province.
However, the North Korean nuclear power plant construction project stopped in 2002, when the process was progressing about 30%, as North Korea’s uranium enrichment problem arose. As there was no progress in the six-party talks that followed, the KEDO Executive Board decided to end the project in December 2003. Among the recently controversial documents deleted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, it is known that the’light water reactor white paper’ and’the list of experienced persons related to KEDO’ were included. It is possible to speculate that a review of the North Korean nuclear power plant experience within the government during this period would have been conducted.
President Moon Jae-in and Chairman Kim Jong-un are listening to the agreement after signing the Pyongyang Joint Declaration at the guesthouse at Baekhwawon, Pyongyang on September 19, 2018. Pyongyang Photographic Foundation
Kim Jong-un also emphasized nuclear power… “Russian government secret proposal” reported
Since then, energy support has continued to be on the table as an important agenda even in the process of repeated numerous agreements and abolitions over the North Korean nuclear program. As a result, in the September 19 Joint Statement of 2005, “North Korea has stated that it has the right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and the parties expressed their respect. It included discussions on the issue of providing light water reactors to North Korea at an appropriate time.” The 2007 February 13 agreement also came when the countries involved in the six-party talks decided to support heavy oil for North Korea.
Even in the Kim Jong-un era, the construction of nuclear power plants is still considered one of the living negotiation cards. North Korea’s State Council Chairman Kim Jong-un expressed his willingness to develop nuclear power plants, saying, “To solve the country’s power problem, we must develop nuclear power with a promising perspective.” At the same time, the Washington Post reported that “the Russian government made a secret proposal to provide nuclear power to North Korea in exchange for abandoning its nuclear weapons in order to resolve the stalemate in North American negotiations in October 2018.” If the North Korean nuclear negotiations progress, it is a reward that can rise to the surface at any time.
Virtually impossible without progress in international cooperation and North Korean nuclear negotiations
Therefore, there is an opinion that it is not a big problem for the government to prepare for such a situation internally. It is not an issue that the two Koreas can independently pursue. In addition to the immediate conflict with international sanctions on North Korea, building a nuclear power plant in North Korea with South Korean technology and equipment without US consent is a violation of the US-Korea nuclear agreement. Above all, the construction of nuclear power plants is a proposal that can be considered only when conditions such as North Korea’s return to the NPT and acceptance of inspections are satisfied at the final stage of the denuclearization roadmap, and it is pointed out that there is still a long way to go.
Kang Yubin reporter [email protected]
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