[Editorial] Half-Built KEDO Reactor Must Remain Available

The light water reactor (LWR) project in North Korea's South Hamgyong province has essentially come to a close, now that 57 South Korean and American personnel have withdrawn. It is most unfortunate that the project come to an end without being completed, having begun in 1994 with the creation of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO), which was part of the Geneva Agreement between the North and the United States.

The fact that the project was not completed is a reflection of the mutual distrust between the U.S. and the North over the nuclear issue, because construction stopped when the U.S. said the North was working on highly enriched uranium (HEU). It is still unclear whether the North had a nuclear program that sought to utilize HEU, and some say the U.S. was never interested in the LWR project to begin with. The reason the South Korean government proposed sending 2 million kilowatts of power to the North last July was precisely to block further amplification of the distrust between the U.S. and the North and to facilitate a restart of the six party talks.

The LWR must not be given up on, even if the existing project is over. Some 73 percent, or US$1.137 billion of the US$1.562 billion spent on it was paid for by South Korea, and the South now also has to pay the more than US$140 million it will cost to close off the project. What's more, the North continues to demand an LWR as compensation for giving up its nuclear program. The Joint Statement of September 19 calls for discussion, "at the appropriate time," about providing one. If that happens, the current site would naturally be the best choice. It is the South's responsibility, as the party that spend the most on it, to make sure LWR remains the property of KEDO and the international community.

If anything is to be learned from the shutdown of the KEDO reactor project, it is that if the nuclear issue is to be resolved, it is the South that must play the leading role in making that happen, however it may do that. The same goes for reviving the LWR project that is currently nothing more than a pile of concrete.

The Hankyoreh, 10 January 2006.

[Translations by Seoul Selection]