When To Give North Korea Fuel? Following Confirmation of Feb 13 Agreement?

The Ministry of Unification and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are explicating differing views as to when the government will provide North Korea 50,000 tons of fuel. It seems that the issue of supplying the fuel will even be discussed on the agenda of six party talks that will reconvene shortly.

“The Ministry of Unification will prepare the 50,000 tons of fuel support. However we do not make the decision” Unification Minister Lee Jae Jung said regarding the time of giving aid, at a regular briefing on the 14th. He revealed, “Preparations will be made in accordance to the decisions made at the six party talks regarding confirmations on the initial actions.”

On the previous day, Song Min Soon Foreign Affairs Minister said, “Once the BDA issue is resolved, there will be mutual trust for us to provide the fuel and for North Korea to dismantles its nuclear facilities and invite the International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect the grounds,” suggesting that the fuel support could be given prior to North Koreas implementation of the initial actions.

Minister Song added, “Difficulties will arise if the ultimate goal is attained in conjunction to other actions after the BDA issue is resolved” and stressed, “Even if there is a time gap between the order and time of actions, it should be fine as long as we impose ‘resilience.’”

Regarding this, Yoo Ho Yul a professor of North Korean Studies at Korea University said in a telephone conversation with the Daily NK, “Even if the BDA issue is resolved, North Korea has not shown enough trust to the international community that it will implement the February 13 Agreement immediately” and asserted, “If North Korea does not display a clear direction, we must show them that we will not provide aid either.”

In respect to this differing viewpoint by the Ministry of Unification and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a Unification Ministry official said, “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs probably agrees with us that the issue of providing 50,000tons of fuel will need to be discussed in the framework of six party talks” and added, “the Ministry of Unification and Ministry of Foreign Affairs will discuss the specific elements of providing fuel following the events of the February 13 Agreement” suggesting that explicit details had not been discussed as yet.