S. Korea regrets for stoppage of reactor construction in DPRK

The South Korean Unification Ministry expressed its regrets Thursday over the decision of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO to terminate the construction of two light-water reactors in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

The government feels sorry that the construction of the light- water reactors was terminated without being completed as planned, the Unification Ministry said in a statement.

The South Korean government had insisted the construction should be resumed if the nuclear issues on the Korean peninsula was resolved, an unnamed official of the ministry said.

However, the government had to accept the decision as the construction could not be halted termlessly amid the long-lasting stagnancy of the nuclear issues, he added.

The executive board of KEDO announced in New York on Wednesday (New York time) that it decided to scrap the light-water reactor project with criticism that Pyongyang "continuously refused" to take measures required for its continuation.

In the Framework Agreement signed by the DPRK and the United States in Geneva in 1994, the DPRK agreed to freeze its existing nuclear program in exchange for the construction of two 1,000- megawatt lightwater reactors by Washington within 10 years.

South Korea, Japan, the European Union and the United States set up the KEDO after the accord to conduct the construction project.

However, the project had not been completed on time as Washington accused Pyongyang of developing alleged secret nuclear programs while Pyongyang rebutted that the United States had no intention to finish the project for the DPRK.

The construction of the two light-water reactors has been suspended since November 2003, one year after the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula erupted.

In early January this year, all the remaining workers of the KEDO left the site of the suspended project.

South Korea claimed that 1.56 billion U.S. dollars had been spent on the project so far, of which 1.13 billion U.S. dollars had been shouldered by it. South Korean media said Japan has spent about 407 million U.S. dollars and the European Union spent 18 million US dollars on the project.

Source: Xinhua