Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization Explained

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The Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) was an organization founded on March 15, 1995, by the United States, South Korea, and Japan to implement the 1994 U.S.-North Korea Agreed Framework that froze North Korea's indigenous nuclear power plant development centered at the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center, that was suspected of being a step in a nuclear weapons program.KEDO's principal activity was to construct two light water reactor nuclear power plants in North Korea to replace North Korea's Magnox type reactors.[1] The original target year for completion was 2003.

Since then, other members joined:

KEDO discussions took place at the level of a U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, South Korea's deputy foreign minister, and the head of the Asian bureau of Japan's Foreign Ministry.

The KEDO Secretariat was located in New York. KEDO was shut down in 2006.

History

KEDO funding by country (1995 to 2005)
Country U.S. dollars (millions)
South Korea 1,455
Japan 498
United States 405
European Atomic
Energy Community 		122
Australia 14
Others 18

Formal ground breaking on the site for two light water reactors (LWR) was on August 19, 1997, at Kumho, 30 km north of Sinpo.[2] [3] The Kumho site had been previously selected for two similar sized reactors that had been promised in the 1980s by the Soviet Union, before its collapse.[4]

Soon after the Agreed Framework[5] was signed, U.S. Congress control changed to the Republican Party, who did not support the agreement.[6] Some Republican Senators were strongly against the agreement, regarding it as appeasement.[7] [8] KEDO's first director, Stephen Bosworth, later commented "The Agreed Framework was a political orphan within two weeks after its signature".[9]

Arranging project financing was not easy, and formal invitations to bid were not issued until 1998, by which time the delays were infuriating North Korea.[10] Significant spending on the LWR project did not commence until 2000,[11] with "First Concrete" pouring at the construction site on August 7, 2002.[12] Construction of both reactors was well behind the original schedule.

In the wake of the breakdown of the Agreed Framework in 2003, KEDO largely lost its function. KEDO ensured that the nuclear power plant project assets at the construction site at Kumho in North Korea and at manufacturers' facilities around the world ($1.5 billion invested to date) were preserved and maintained. The project was reported to be about 30% complete. One reactor containment building was about 50% complete and another about 15% finished. No key equipment for the reactors had been moved to the site.

In 2005, there were reports indicating that KEDO had agreed in principle to terminate the light-water reactor project. On January 9, 2006, it was announced that the project was over and the workers would be returning to their home countries. North Korea demanded compensation and has refused to return the approximately $45 million worth of equipment left behind.[13]

Executive Directors

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: About Us: Our History . KEDO . April 3, 2016.
  2. Web site: KEDO Breaks Ground on US Led Nuclear Project That will Undermine Client Status of S Korea . korea-np.co.jp . October 21, 1994 . June 9, 2009 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090824204606/http://www1.korea-np.co.jp/pk/005th_issue/97082102.htm . August 24, 2009 .
  3. North Korea: Nuclear Reactors Kedo Consortium Press Conference . Motion picture . Associated Press . August 19, 1997 . April 3, 2016.
  4. North Korea's Choice: Bombs Over Electricity . Siegfried S. Hecker . Sean C. Lee . Chaim Braun . Summer 2010 . The Bridge . 40 . 2 . 5–12 . . March 5, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101205175419/http://cisac.stanford.edu/publications/north_koreas_choice_bombs_over_electricity/ . December 5, 2010 . dead .
  5. News: Agreed Framework of 21 October 1994 Between the United States of America and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea . INFCIRC/457 . IAEA . November 2, 1994 . https://web.archive.org/web/20031217175315/http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Documents/Infcircs/Others/infcirc457.pdf . December 17, 2003.
  6. http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c104:H.J.RES.83.EH: Joint resolution relating to the United States-North Korea Agreed Framework and the obligations of North Korea under that and previous agreements with respect to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and dialog with the Republic of Korea
  7. Web site: frontline: kim's nuclear gamble: interviews: robert gallucci . PBS . March 5, 2003 . June 9, 2009.
  8. Web site: frontline: kim's nuclear gamble: interviews: richard perle . PBS . March 27, 2003 . June 9, 2009.
  9. Web site: Behar . Richard . Rummy's North Korea Connection What did Donald Rumsfeld know about ABB's deal to build nuclear reactors there? And why won't he talk about it? - May 12, 2003 . Money.cnn.com . May 12, 2003 . June 9, 2009 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090908091709/http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2003/05/12/342316/ . September 8, 2009 .
  10. News: Behar . Richard . Rummy's North Korea Connection . FORTUNE Magazine . CNN Money . May 12, 2003 . April 14, 2010 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090908091709/http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2003/05/12/342316/ . September 8, 2009 .
  11. Web site: Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization Annual Report 2004 . https://web.archive.org/web/20060724131611/http://www.kedo.org/pdfs/KEDO_AR_2004.pdf . 2006-07-24 . live . December 31, 2004 . Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization . April 14, 2010.
  12. Web site: Tim Carter . Promoting Peace and Stability on the Korean Peninsula and Beyond . KEDO . August 7, 2002. April 14, 2010.
  13. Web site: Reactor Project Ends in Failure . Myoung-Gun Lee . English.donga.com . January 9, 2006 . April 14, 2010.
  14. Web site: Stephen W. Bosworth - Biographic Sketch . Institute for Corean-American Studies . April 14, 2010 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090310042628/http://www.icasinc.org/bios/bosworth.html . March 10, 2009 .
  15. Web site: 2006 Asian Studies Conference . March 25, 2006 . Case Western Reserve University . April 14, 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20060320054211/http://www.case.edu/artsci/asia/AsiasSecurityChallenges.html . March 20, 2006 . dead .
  16. News: Interview: Charles Kartman . . . February 20, 2003 . April 14, 2010.

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