U.S. Oil Supply to DPRK May End in 2003: U.S. Official

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, November 11, 2002

U.S. Oil Supply to DPRK May End in 2003: U.S. Official

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A senior U.S. State Department official told an influential Japanese lawmaker Sunday that Washington may stop its fuel oil deliveries to DPRK from next year due to Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.

James Kelly, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, conveyed the view to Fukushiro Nukaga, acting secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), when they met in Tokyo in the morning, party lawmakers said.

He told Nukaga that the United States would have trouble securing a necessary budget for continuing oil supplies to the North from next year due to objections in the U.S. Congress, the lawmakers said.

Kelly added that the decision on whether to deliver this month's oil to the North is likely to be made at an executive meeting of an international consortium -- the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) -- in New York next Thursday, the lawmakers said.

KEDO is in charge of building nuclear reactors in North Korea under a 1994 accord between Pyongyang and Washington.

In the trilateral gathering held at a Tokyo hotel, the three countries decided to continue talks to reach a consensus on the fuel issue before the KEDO meeting as the Japanese and South Korean sides asked the U.S. not to stop the supply.

The three countries also issued a joint statement urging DPRK to dismantle its nuclear weapons development program in "a prompt and verifiable manner."

Source: Agencies

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