US to give extra two million dollars to NKorea

AFP
Tuesday June 19, 2007

The US government is preparing to offer two million dollars in fresh aid to North Korea if it takes long-delayed initial steps to stop its nuclear activities, a Japanese report said Tuesday.

The emergency aid would come in addition to 50,000 tonnes of fuel oil South Korea has promised to release once the North closes its Yongbyon reactor, the source of raw material for bomb-making plutonium, the Mainichi Shimbun said in its evening edition.

Washington had wanted to participate in the fuel aid but South Korea offered to give the oil on its own, the newspaper said in a dispatch from Washington, quoting unnamed US sources.

The United States then decided to offer its own aid, which would be used for humanitarian purposes and may include power generators for hospitals in the impoverished state, the newspaper said.

The aid is meant "to demonstrate the US engagement in the February agreement," the Mainichi quoted one source as saying.

The reactor's closure is the first step in the deal reached in February involving the two Koreas, the United States, Russia, China and Japan.

Under a second phase of the agreement, the North would disable all its nuclear programmes in return for 950,000 tonnes of oil or equivalent aid and diplomatic benefits including normalised ties with Washington.

The North had adamantly refused to implement the February pact until it received money frozen at a Macau bank. Washington unfroze the funds in March but had major problems finding a bank to handle the cash.

A team of UN inspectors is due in North Korea next week to verify the shutting down of the Yongbyon reactor. The team was invited by Pyongyang, which said the financial row was being resolved.

The cash transfer finally began Thursday after months of negotiations.

US envoy Christopher Hill, who is on a regional tour, on Tuesday called on North Korea to speed up the shutdown of its reactor.

Japan has taken a hard line at the six-way talks, refusing any aid to North Korea due to a row over its kidnappings of Japanese civilians in the 1970s and 1980s.

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