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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: stockman_scott who wrote (53422)	10/20/2002 3:39:05 PM
From: Karen Lawrence	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

"Well, when you have an agreement between two parties and one says it's nullified, then it looks like it's nullified," ( I bet you're guessing Bush said this, but NO, it was Colin Powell) U.S. says 1994 arms pact with N. Korea nullified Reuters News Service WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Colin Powell said today that a 1994 agreement with North Korea to freeze its nuclear weapons program was effectively nullified after Pyongyang admitted violating the deal. The United States was evaluating its response with "friends and allies," Powell said in appearances on several talk shows. The considerations include whether to continue with various provisions of the pact, under which Washington provides energy aid to North Korea in exchange for its pledge not to develop nuclear weapons. "When we told North Korea a couple of weeks ago that we knew that they were participating in the enrichment of uranium, which was in violation of a number of agreements to include this one (the 1994 pact), they first denied it, then admitted it and said, 'and therefore the agreement is nullified,'" Powell said. "Well, when you have an agreement between two parties and one says it's nullified, then it looks like it's nullified," Powell said on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos." Washington was discussing future steps with South Korea, Japan, Russia, and China and expected to continue talks at a summit of Asia-Pacific nations next weekend in Mexico, Powell said. Under the 1994 agreement, the United States ships 500,000 tons of fuel oil annually to North Korea. Powell, asked whether these shipments would be ended, said, "We're looking at all of the things that rest on the agreed framework to see what is in our interest to keep doing, what is in our interest not to keep doing." He said it was essential that stored plutonium at a facility at Yongbyon remain under international monitoring. It would create an "extremely grave situation" if North Korea were to withdraw the plutonium, which can be used to make nuclear weapons, from supervision. The Bush administration assumes North Korea "might have one or two" nuclear weapons, Powell said. He said he did not want to speculate about the possibility of a U.S. military strike against North Korea, but said the United States was trying to resolve the situation peacefully. The nuclear revelations have upset the delicate balance on the Korean Peninsula, one of the Cold War's last flash points, and dampened South Korean enthusiasm for what had been a rapid process of rapprochement since August. North Korea admitted it had the secret nuclear weapons program at a session with U.S. officials in Pyongyang on Oct. 4. That admission means the isolated state, which President Bush has called part of an "axis of evil" with Iran and Iraq, has violated the 1994 Agreed Framework under which it promised to halt its nuclear efforts. Powell rejected charges from some members of Congress that the administration delayed telling them about North Korea's arms program to avoid affecting their vote authorizing military force against Iraq. He said several members had been briefed in advance of the vote. "It was a separate issue of enormous importance and gravity, and no politics were being played with it," Powell said on "Fox News Sunday."