North Korea is simply asking the US to honor the agreement made in ’94
to build a light water plant there to produce power. The US said they
would, yet since then has reneged on the deal. Amid all the blather
about North Korea being warlike (a laughable charge coming as it is
from the most bellicose country on the planet) this would seem a
crucial fact, yet it’s barely mentioned in mainstream media.
The U.S. was accusing the DPRK of developing nuclear weapons at its
only nuclear energy plant at Yongbyon. The plant was vital to the
DPRK’s plan to create indigenous energy reserves to substitute for the
loss of trade with the Soviet Union.
Under the Framework Agreement, the DPRK agreed to halt nuclear energy
production at Yongbyon in exchange for heavy oil shipments. And the
U.S. pledged to construct two light water reactor power plants in North
Korea. These reactors do not produce enriched plutonium that could be
used in the production of nuclear weapons.
Construction of the light water reactors was scheduled to be completed in 2003.
The U.S had stalled on building the much-needed power plants for years.
Now, under Bush, it cancelled the construction altogether.