N.Korea raises stakes on nuclear deal
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-09-21 07:00

The energy-starved North's demand for a light-water reactor was the sticking point when the talks broke up last month, even though experts have said the country's crumbling power grid could not handle the electricity it would generate.

The North Korean foreign ministry spokesman said the provision of the reactors was the key to ending the standoff.

"As clarified in the joint statement, we will return to the NPT and sign the Safeguards Agreement with the IAEA and comply with it immediately upon the US provision of LWRs, a basis of confidence-building, to us," he said.

South Korean foreign ministry spokesman Lee Kyu-Hyung said he expected North Korea to soften its position ahead of the November talks.

"This issue will be discussed and settled through talks among countries concerned," he said.

Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura, though, indicated Pyongyang's demand spelled trouble.

"I suppose such statements would not be accepted," Machimura told reporters in Tokyo, adding that the position "seems to indicate that the second stage of negotiations has already begun".

Monday's agreement came as a surprise after the talks had deadlocked on the reactor demand. It averted the immediate possibility of Washington taking the issue to the UN Security Council.

The standoff began when the United States accused North Korea in 2002 of breaking a 1994 agreement by running a secret uranium-enrichment programme. Under the agreement, two light water reactors were to be supplied in exchange for a freeze on existing nuclear activity.

North Korea responded by throwing out international inspectors and withdrawing from the NPT.