North Korea Offers Deal to Freeze Nuclear Program

By THE YOMIURI SHIMBUN

TOKYO Pyongyang has offered to freeze operations at its nuclear facilities, including the one in Yongbyon, in exchange for more than 500,000 tons of fuel oil a year and a U.S. promise to lift financial sanctions against North Korea, former U.S. State Department official Joel Wit says.

Wit, who met with North Korean officials, including Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan, who heads the North Korean delegation for the six-party talks, told the Yomiuri Shimbun about the proposal Sunday.

North Korea is believed to have made the same offer in a meeting with the United States in Berlin.

The proposal will be the focus of attention at the six-party talks set to resume Thursday.

According to Wit, North Korea said that as the first step in abandoning its nuclear program, Pyongyang would suspend operations of the 5,000-kilowatt reactor in Yongbyon and nuclear facilities for reprocessing spent nuclear fuel. North Korea would also allow experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect those facilities, Wit said.

In return, North Korea demanded that the international community annually provide it more than 500,000 tons of fuel oil, which had been supplied to the North based on the 1994 U.S.-North Korea nuclear agreement, Wit said.

Pyongyang also asked that the U.S. government provide a written promise that it will lift its financial sanctions against North Korea, including removing North Korea from the list of countries supporting international terrorism, Wit said.

Pyongyang also demanded that the light water reactors, whose construction was outlined in the U.S.-North Korea nuclear agreement, be built and handed over, Wit said.

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