U.S. President George W. Bush has not requested any money to support the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization in fiscal 2004, the Wall Street Journal reported today (see GSN, Jan. 17).

The move is the first concrete sign the Bush administration might terminate a key 1994 bilateral agreement, from which KEDO was created, according to the Journal.

U.S. officials said money could be redirected to KEDO if a diplomatic solution to the current nuclear crisis is found.

“If KEDO survives … and if we want KEDO to continue to maintain what it is doing right now, and if we are looking at resuming shipments of fuel oil, then we will take care of what needs to be taken care of,” said Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Christopher Burnham.

South Korea has been encouraging Washington to maintain its commitment to KEDO, the Journal reported.

“The South has been arguing that we don’t want to give the North a pretext to begin reprocessing” by pulling out of the energy deal, said Victor Cha, a Korean expert at Georgetown University.  “That has now been undercut,” he added (David Cloud, Wall Street Journal, Feb. 4).

Meanwhile, the U.S. Defense Department might send 24 long-range B-52 and B-1 bombers to Guam in response to the nuclear crisis, the New York Times reported today.

The move would be intended to deter North Korean “opportunism” while the United States focuses on Iraq and to allow Bush a variety of military options if diplomacy does not resolve the dispute, according to officials.

“It’s fair to say that there is a broad assumption in the administration now that Kim Jong Il is out to produce his weapons as fast as he can,” said a senior U.S. official (see GSN, Feb. 3).  “We hope they can be dissuaded by diplomacy, pressure from us and from China and from Russia.  But there are no guarantees any of that will work,” the official added.

Bush has repeatedly said the United States “has no intention of invading North Korea,” according to the Times.

“It is standard practice for us to review our defensive posture for existing security commitments when U.S. forces are preparing for potential operations elsewhere in the world,” said Pentagon spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Davis.  “Such planning could result in the movement of forces, but only as a prudent measure to ensure that we maintain our ability to rapidly respond to contingencies if needed,” he added (Sanger/Shanker, New York Times, Feb. 4).

“Fear” Drives Pyongyang

A South Korean official yesterday said North Korea was motivated by fear and sought assurances that Pyongyang’s security would not be compromised, the Washington Times reported.

“At heart, the North would like to have their regime guaranteed,” said Chang Young-dal, a member of President-elect Roh Moo-hyun’s Millennium Democratic Party.  “The actions they have taken lately have come because they fear for their survival, because of the weakness of the regime and the difficult economic conditions.  At the same time, the United States must be prepared for a comprehensive dialogue with North Korea so a package settlement on the nuclear issue and the Korean Peninsula situation can be resolved in the near future,” he added.

Chang also said Roh’s reported resentment of the United States has been overblown by the media.

“Mr. Roh was very unfamiliar to many in the United States when he was elected,” Chang said.  “But when we heard there were concerns in Washington about him, we just laughed.  I think he will be able to develop a stronger relationship than ever in the past,” he added (David Sands, Washington Times, Feb. 4).

IAEA Will Meet Feb. 12

The International Atomic Energy Agency announced its Board of Governors would meet Feb. 12 to declare Pyongyang in violation of its commitments under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and to refer the issue to the U.N. Security Council.  U.S. officials said they would ask for a resolution condemning North Korea’s actions, but they said they would not ask for sanctions or penalties (see GSN, Jan. 30; Sanger/Shanker, New York Times).

“When we get to the Security Council, we’ll see what we propose there,” said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.  “But we have not talked about sanctions at this point,” he added.

“I’ve exhausted all possibilities within my power to bring North Korea into compliance,” said IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei (Sands, Washington Times).

Moscow today said bringing the issue to the Security Council would not help solve the nuclear crisis.

“As before, we still believe that the possibility for diplomatic dialogue between the interested sides is not exhausted,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko.  “In this connection, submitting the question about North Korea to the U.N. Security Council now would be counterproductive,” he added (Paul Shin, Associated Press/KATU.com, Feb. 4).

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