Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization

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The Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization ( KEDO ) was on March 9, 1995 by the United States , South Korea and Japan following the on 21 October 1994 between the US and North Korea closed Agreed Framework established.

KEDO was supposed to implement the measures set out in the framework agreement, which aimed in particular at building a modern nuclear power plant in North Korea and ending its own North Korean nuclear program. The prerequisites should be created so that North Korea will not have any nuclear weapons in the future. A few years later, difficulties arose in the implementation of the project, the mutual distrust of the contract partners increased and breaches of contract were found. KEDO finally stopped all work in 2006.

Geneva Framework Agreement

5 MW experimental nuclear reactor in Nyŏngbyŏn / North Korea

North Korea had been running a nuclear program with technical support from the Soviet Union since the 1950s . The global public followed these activities with great concern. A decisive turning point occurred in 1985 when North Korea acceded to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) under pressure from the Soviet Union . Another step was an agreement reached between North and South Korea in 1992 that declared the Korean Peninsula a nuclear-weapon-free zone. The US then dismantled its nuclear weapons systems stationed in South Korea. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) then tried to inspect the North Korean nuclear facilities, particularly in Taechon and at the Nyŏngbyŏn site . However, the inspection trips were not allowed. This increased concerns about the real goals of the North Korean nuclear program. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the influence of the previous know-how provider was no longer there. Negotiations with North Korea began in 1993 under the leadership of the United States to prevent nuclear weapons. In 1994, the negotiations resulted in the Geneva Framework Agreement.

The Geneva Framework Agreement contained the following essential provisions:

  • With the help of an international consortium, the USA will build and finance two light water reactors with a total output of 2000 MW in North Korea.
  • North Korea will shut down existing graphite-moderated reactors within a month.
  • North Korea is being supplied with up to 500,000 t / p of crude oil to cope with energy problems until the new reactors are completed  .
  • The IAEA is given the right to monitor the decommissioning measures.
  • After commissioning the light water reactors, the graphite-moderated reactors will be dismantled.
  • North Korea remains a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and is subject to the security standards of the IAEA.
  • Further negotiations with the aim of peaceful cooperation, especially with South Korea, are planned.

In contrast to the graphite-moderated reactors, light water reactors are not suitable for the production of nuclear weapons-grade plutonium.

Foundation and development phase

In order to implement the goals of the Geneva Framework Agreement, the states of South Korea, Japan and the USA founded the organization KEDO on March 9, 1995. The secretariat was based in New York. The company had a small staff of around 30 permanent specialists. The decision-making body was an Executive Board made up of representatives of the founding members and later also Euratom. From the outset there was an interest in gaining other states or international organizations to collaborate or become members. The following countries have subsequently joined the organization:

The contract for the turnkey - nuclear power plant project was 4.2 billion USD, total was estimated costs of approximately $ 5.0 billion. The location for the two light water reactors was Kumho , around 30 km north of the port city of Sinpo on the Japanese sea . A nuclear power plant based on Russian know-how, which was started in 1987 but was not completed, was already in place in Kumho. The main suppliers were manufacturers and service providers from South Korea. The KEDO members have raised an amount of USD 2.5 billion to finance this, of which South Korea has financed around 60% and Japan around 20%.

Executive Directors of KEDO were:

The end

It was originally planned that the nuclear power plant should go into operation in 2003. However, the realization was slower. Due to the Asian crisis , financing was delayed, especially on the part of the South Koreans. Setting up the construction site, negotiating with the suppliers and reaching an agreement on cost sharing between the KEDO members also took more time than planned. The first concrete for the foundations was not poured until August 7, 2002. These massive delays caused significant anger in North Korea. The main difficulties, however, were political.

Shortly after the Geneva Framework Agreement was signed, the majority in the United States Congress switched to the Republicans , from whom the agreement was heavily criticized. The US negotiators were accused of allowing themselves to be blackmailed unnecessarily. North Korea is also not a state from which one can expect behavior in accordance with the treaty. When a North Korean Taepodong missile was fired into the Sea of ​​Japan on August 31, 1998 and rumors arose in the west about an underground nuclear facility in North Korea, calls for a revision of the agreement increased. As part of the so-called Perry Process, talks on the revision of the Geneva Framework Agreement began at the end of 1999. After the US presidency changed from Bill Clinton to George W. Bush in early 2001, the US's confrontational stance towards North Korea intensified. After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 , Bush publicly declared North Korea a rogue state and spoke of the axis of evil , of which he belonged to North Korea.

According to unofficial reports, North Korea began producing enriched uranium again in 2002 . The KEDO Executive Board then decided to stop delivering crude oil. In response, North Korea resigned its membership in the Non-Proliferation Treaty on January 10, 2003 and began operating the reactor in Nyŏngbyŏn again. A new diplomatic attempt was the six-party talks (USA, South Korea, Japan, Russia, China and North Korea), which tried in several rounds of negotiations from 2003 to ward off the threat of North Korea's nuclear armament again. A breakthrough has not yet been achieved. On November 21, 2003, KEDO decided to suspend construction work for one year due to a breach of contract by the North Korean side. At the end of 2004, the deadline was extended by a further year. Since there were no improvements, all employees were withdrawn from the construction site in January 2006. On May 31, 2006, the KEDO Executive Board decided to discontinue the construction project due to repeated breaches of contract by the North Korean contract partners.

Gleanings

At the time of the shutdown, the project was almost 35% complete. There were not yet any key components for the reactors on site. The regulation of the financial and legal consequences of the closure turned out to be difficult and led to lengthy negotiations between South Korea, Japan and the USA. North Korea did not allow the dismantling of components or the return transport of construction equipment, and they insisted on handing over all technical documents and drawings.

Various authors comment on the failure of KEDO. The goal of building a basis of trust between the USA and North Korea, which is also addressed in the Geneva Framework Agreement, has not been achieved and has probably never been seriously attempted. It is also a mistake not to involve China and Russia in the KEDO organization right from the start. In the later six-party talks, this would have been changed, but unfortunately too late. Above all, KEDO lacked strong political support from the founding members and in particular from the USA

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d KEDO (Homepage) ( en )
  2. ^ A b Agreed Framework of October 21, 1994 Between the United States of America and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (en) , IAEA. November 2, 1994. INFCIRC / 457. Archived from the original on December 17, 2003. Retrieved April 27, 2017. 
  3. ^ Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (en) . In: Inventory of International Nonproliferation Organizations and Regimes , Center for Nonproliferation Studies. Retrieved April 28, 2017. 
  4. ^ North Korea: Nuclear Reactors Kedo Consortium Press Conference (en) , Associated Press. August 19, 1997. Retrieved April 28, 2017. 
  5. ↑ a b KEDO Annual Report 2005 (en) . 2005-12-34. Retrieved April 29, 2017. 
  6. ↑ Interview: Robert Gallucci ( en ) PBS Frontline. March 5, 2003. Retrieved April 29, 2017.
  7. ↑ Interview: Richard Perle ( en ) PBS Frontline. March 27, 2003. Retrieved April 29, 2017.
  8. ↑ Ser Myo-ja: Half-forgotten project is a key in the next round of 6-party talks (en) , Korea Joongang Daily. September 11, 2005. Retrieved April 29, 2017. 
  9. ^ An unfair burden (s) , Korea Joongang Daily. December 1, 2005. Retrieved April 29, 2017. 
  10. ^ Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) . NTI Building a safer world. October 26, 2011. Retrieved April 29, 2017.
  11. ↑ Interview: Charles Kartman ( en ) PBS Frontline. February 20, 2003. Retrieved April 29, 2017.
  12. ^ Todd Crowell: Kumho: North Korea's nuclear ghost town (en) , Asia Times Online. September 24, 2004. Retrieved April 29, 2017. 
  13. ↑ What Did We Learn From KEDO? ( en ) The Stanley Foundation. November 2006. Retrieved April 29, 2017.

Web links

Coordinates: 40 ° 6 ′  N , 128 ° 20 ′  E