South Korea and the U.S. have reportedly agreed to discuss providing heavy fuel oil to North Korea if the North undertakes to start dismantling its nuclear program under a statement of principles singed in September 2005. The two did not discuss provision of heavy oil ahead of the next round of six-party nuclear talks with North Korea which opens in Beijing on Feb. 8, the U.S. top nuclear envoy Christopher Hill said after a dinner meeting with his South Korean counterpart Chun Young-woo. But he pointed out that the 2005 statement of principles contains provisions on fuel and economic aid to Pyongyang.

A South Korean government official said the provision of heavy oil depends on what North Korea does. The official told reporters that no one would be taken aback if the provision of heavy fuel oil to North Korea resumes, since the North was already given heavy oil supplies as a reward once. Supply of heavy oil could resume in two or three months if the five countries--South Korea, the U.S., Japan, China and Russia--agree. The issue will be who shoulders the burden of paying for it, as a series of news reports say Washington and Tokyo are less than enthusiastic.

The U.S. supplied 500,000 tons of heavy oil a year to North Korea until the second nuclear crisis in 2002, which the South Korean government estimates cost US$150 million. Japan’s Asahi Shimbun quoted Joel Wit, a former State Department official, as saying North Korea would demand 500,000 tons of heavy oil a year or a corresponding amount of electricity until it is given a light-water nuclear reactor and will not agree to scrap its nuclear program until then.

(englishnews@chosun.com )