ID :
61619
Thu, 05/21/2009 - 14:11
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/61619
The shortlink copeid
No U.S. aid to N. Korea unless Pyongyang returns to 6-way talks: Clinton
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, May 20 (Yonhap) -- The United States will not provide any economic
aid to North Korea unless the North returns to six-party talks on ending its
nuclear ambitions, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday.
"We are not going to expend one penny of those funds in the absence of their
voluntary return to the six-party talks and their resumption of the obligations
that they've already agreed to," Clinton told a Senate Appropriations Committee
hearing. "This money is, you know, there as a backstop in the event we see the
kind of changes in actions that we're looking for from the North Koreans."
Clinton was discussing the US$98 million the Barack Obama administration has
asked for in next year's budget to provide heavy fuel oil and cover the disabling
of North Korea's nuclear facilities under a six-party deal that involves the two
Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia.
North Korea has threatened to conduct further nuclear and ballistic missile tests
in protest against the U.N. Security Council's embargoes of three North Korean
firms after the North's April 5 rocket launch, which Pyongyang insists was a
satellite launch.
The North also said it will boycott the six-party talks on ending its nuclear
ambitions and restart its disabled nuclear facilities to enhance its nuclear
arsenal in preparation for possible attacks from the U.S. and its allies.
North Korea said last week it is useless to engage in dialogue with the U.S. due
to its "hostile policy" toward the North.
Clinton recently described as "implausible if not impossible" the chances of
North Korea returning to the multinational nuclear talks, amid allegations that
North Korea aims to derail the six-party talks with the goal of reviving
bilateral talks with the U.S., discontinued after President George W. Bush's
inauguration in 2001.
In the second phase of the six-party deal, the U.S. is obligated to provide
200,000 tons of heavy fuel oil and help pay for the disabling of North Korea's
nuclear facilities.
The third and final phase calls for dismantlement of all of North Korea's nuclear
programs and facilities in return for the North getting hefty economic and
political benefits from the five other parties to the talks.
U.S. congressional reports have estimated that the dismantling of North Korea's
nuclear facilities will cost up to $575 million over the next several years.
The bill, HR 2642, the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2008, enables the U.S.
government to finance the dismantling of North Korea's nuclear facilities through
2013, superseding the Glenn Amendment, which bans any financial aid to states
that have conducted a nuclear test.
The U.S. spent $25 million on North Korea in the fiscal year that ended last
September.
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)
WASHINGTON, May 20 (Yonhap) -- The United States will not provide any economic
aid to North Korea unless the North returns to six-party talks on ending its
nuclear ambitions, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday.
"We are not going to expend one penny of those funds in the absence of their
voluntary return to the six-party talks and their resumption of the obligations
that they've already agreed to," Clinton told a Senate Appropriations Committee
hearing. "This money is, you know, there as a backstop in the event we see the
kind of changes in actions that we're looking for from the North Koreans."
Clinton was discussing the US$98 million the Barack Obama administration has
asked for in next year's budget to provide heavy fuel oil and cover the disabling
of North Korea's nuclear facilities under a six-party deal that involves the two
Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia.
North Korea has threatened to conduct further nuclear and ballistic missile tests
in protest against the U.N. Security Council's embargoes of three North Korean
firms after the North's April 5 rocket launch, which Pyongyang insists was a
satellite launch.
The North also said it will boycott the six-party talks on ending its nuclear
ambitions and restart its disabled nuclear facilities to enhance its nuclear
arsenal in preparation for possible attacks from the U.S. and its allies.
North Korea said last week it is useless to engage in dialogue with the U.S. due
to its "hostile policy" toward the North.
Clinton recently described as "implausible if not impossible" the chances of
North Korea returning to the multinational nuclear talks, amid allegations that
North Korea aims to derail the six-party talks with the goal of reviving
bilateral talks with the U.S., discontinued after President George W. Bush's
inauguration in 2001.
In the second phase of the six-party deal, the U.S. is obligated to provide
200,000 tons of heavy fuel oil and help pay for the disabling of North Korea's
nuclear facilities.
The third and final phase calls for dismantlement of all of North Korea's nuclear
programs and facilities in return for the North getting hefty economic and
political benefits from the five other parties to the talks.
U.S. congressional reports have estimated that the dismantling of North Korea's
nuclear facilities will cost up to $575 million over the next several years.
The bill, HR 2642, the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2008, enables the U.S.
government to finance the dismantling of North Korea's nuclear facilities through
2013, superseding the Glenn Amendment, which bans any financial aid to states
that have conducted a nuclear test.
The U.S. spent $25 million on North Korea in the fiscal year that ended last
September.
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)
