KEDO Adrift
By Yoshinori Takeda
When the U.S. government confronted North Korea on its uranium
enrichment program in October 2002, a new phase in the
North Korean nuclear crisis developed, and the role of the
Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO)
was diminished. In November 2002, the Executive Board of
KEDO-composed of the European Union, Japan, South
Korea, and the United States-condemned North Korea for its
pursuit of nuclear weapons and announced the suspension of
heavy fuel oil (HFO) deliveries, starting in December 2002.
Although multilateral negotiations on Pyongyang's nuclear program
began in August 2003, the six states involved in this
process-China, Japan, North Korea, Russia, South Korea, and
the United States-did not find a comprehensive solution. In
response to the deadlocked situation, KEDO decided to suspend
the Light-Water Reactor (LWR) Project in North Korea for a
period of one year, beginning on 1 December 2003. KEDO
renewed the suspension in November 2004.
Given that KEDO is not, at present, fulfilling two of its basic
missions-the delivery of HFO and the LWR project-its critics
have good reason for concluding that KEDO's mandated role
is coming to an end. It is too early, however, to give up on this
unique multilateral organization, which has played such an
important role in North Korea's nuclear drama unfolding
since the mid 1990s.
In
October 1994 the United States and
North Korea signed the Agreed Framework,
the core of which was North
Korea's agreement to freeze and dismantle
its nuclear program. In return, the
United States would provide two LWRs
with a total generating capacity of
approximately 2,000 MW (e) by a target
date of 2003. The U.S. government also
agreed to organize and lead an international
consortium to finance and supply
the LWR project and to provide alternative
energy in the form of HFO for heating
at a rate of 500,000 tons annually by
completion of the first LWR unit.
KEDO was founded to implement the
terms of the Agreed Framework by supplying
HFOand constructing the LWR plants
to be located in Kumho, South Hamgyong
Province, on the east coast of North
Korea. Founding members Japan, South
Korea, and the United States signed the
Agreement on the Establishment of
KEDO in March 1995. KEDO then
opened its doors to other states and international
organizations that accepted the
principles of the KEDO charter and
offered assistance: New Zealand,
Australia, and Canada (1995); Indonesia,
Chile, and Argentina (1996); the EU and
Poland (1997); Czech Republic (1999);
and Uzbekistan (2000). KEDO receives
additional material and financial support
from nineteen non-member contributing
states. Although the participation of these
countries in KEDO reflects their deep
interest in the resolution of the North
Korean nuclear issue, member states,
except for the four Executive Board members,
are rarely involved in the decisionmaking
process.
KEDO's uniqueness as an organization
lies in its focus on practical matters
requiring diplomatic communication. First, the cooperation envisioned by the
Agreed Framework and KEDO focuses
on technical issues, analogous to an EU
predecessor, the European Coal and Steel
Community, which has had a crucial
impact on major economic and political
developments in Europe.3 KEDO's goal
has been to utilize the procurement and
distribution of non-nuclear forms of
energy assistance to North Korea as a
means to find a diplomatic solution to the
nuclear crisis.4 Second, the implementation
of the Agreed Framework and the
establishment of KEDO began without
diplomatic relations among KEDO's
three founding members and North
Korea. Technically, the Korean War has
never ended; North Korea is still at war
with South Korea and the United States.
Predictably, the harsh history of northeast
Asia has haunted KEDO-North Korean
relations considerably.