The Bush administration said today that it would stop financing monthly shipments of fuel oil to North Korea, which are required under a 1994 arms control agreement, to punish North Korea for pursuing a covert nuclear weapons program.
But the White House, in a bow to its closest Pacific allies, Japan and South Korea, said it would not demand that a tanker carrying this month's shipment of 42,500 metric tons of oil turn around before reaching North Korea. The ship is just days from port, officials said.
The compromise decision, made by President Bush during a meeting of the National Security Council today, underscores the administration's desire to maintain a united front with its allies in pressing North Korea to abandon its nuclear program, administration officials said.
Japan and South Korea have resisted the administration's urgings to cut ties to North Korea, arguing that engagement is the best way to change its behavior.
The administration will make its case against future fuel shipments at a meeting of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization in New York on Thursday.
Japan, South Korea and the European Union also sit on the organization's board. Though the organization operates on a consensus basis, the United States carries a powerful bargaining chip: it pays for almost all of the oil costs, which amounted to $86 million in the last fiscal year.
The energy organization does not have enough money to buy the December shipment, officials said. While South Korea or Japan could foot the December bill, they are expected to adopt the United States' position opposing future shipments, at least temporarily, American and Asian diplomats said.
''One of our goals here has been to present North Korea with a united front,'' a senior administration official said. ''We are interested in maintaining that consensus when we come out of that meeting.''
I guess u missed the part that this deal was cut 1994 by the Dems...
