Oil can go, U.S. reportedly decides

The U.S. Congress adjourns today, putting off consideration of funding for energy aid to North Korea until next year. Also today, the executive board of a multinational organization set up to manage the oil program and other aid to the North will meet to decide whether to approve this month's scheduled oil delivery there. They are expected to allow a ship carrying 43,000 tons of oil to dock at a North Korean port.

The meeting, of the directors of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization in New York, was expected to be a stage for some controversy; the U.S. administration had indicated its opposition to further deliveries while South Korea had lobbied for continuing them.

But officials in Washington, speaking anonymously, told the Associated Press yesterday that President George W. Bush had approved this month's shipment but would not approve future deliveries absent North Korean moves to end its nuclear weapons development program.

Just as the Associated Press was reporting that decision, Seoul was scrambling to cover what it denied was a rift in communication between the foreign affairs and unification ministries. The foreign ministry corrected a statement Wednesday by Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun that Seoul wanted oil shipments continued at least through January. Not so, said a foreign ministry official: "The official policy on the supply of oil to the North is that the decision will be made by KEDO through consultations by the three countries."

A "positive reaction" by the North was the most important determinant of whether the energy aid would continue, he added.

U.S. policy toward the North is different from the policy toward Iraq, U.S. Ambassador to Korea Thomas Hubbard said yesterday. "North Korea is surrounded by important allies," he said, who are seeking a peaceful approach to the North Korean issue and a resolution through diplomatic channels. "Dismantling the nuclear program is a precondition for meaningful dialogue" with the North, he said, adding that the North "should be able to find ways to demonstrate that they are going to dismantle their nuclear program."

by Kim Young-sae