Australia mulls energy aid for N. Korea to help nuclear talks

SEOUL, Oct. 24 (Yonhap) -- Australia may contribute energy aid promised to North Korea under a nuclear disarmament deal signed last year, officials in Canberra were quoted as saying by a local newspaper.

"There has been some discussion with the U.S., Japan, and Australia about DPRK
(North Korea) assistance," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Stephen Smith,
according to the Australian.
The North's dialogue partners at the six-way talks promised to deliver one
million tons of heavy oil or equivalent aid in return for Pyongyang's disabling
of its main plutonium-producing facilities. Australia is not party to the six-way
talks, which comprise the two Koreas, the U.S., Japan, China and Russia.
Japan has balked at delivering aid, calling for the North to first make sincere
efforts to fully account for the fate of the Japanese civilians it kidnapped in
the 1970s and 1980s to train its spies.
The related nations have been searching for a way to make up the shortfall of
200,000 tons of fuel oil.
Other candidates to offer assistance to North Korea in lieu of Japan include the
European Union and New Zealand.
A South Korean nuclear negotiator neither confirmed nor denied the media report.
"Nothing has been decided. We still have time to discuss an alternative," the
official said on the condition of anonymity.
An outside donor, if accepted, will be able to get involved in the process of
resolving the North Korean nuclear issue, although it will not formally attend
the six-way talks.
"For example, it will be debriefed on the development of the negotiations," he said.
Australia and the EU have openly sought to make contributions to efforts to
denuclearize the North and break its isolation.
lcd@yna.co.kr