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Seoul is wasting W70-80 million a day on an oil tanker it rented in expectation of North Korea shutting down its nuclear facilities under a Feb.13 six-nation agreement by Saturday, it emerged Tuesday. The tanker is to transport the 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil worth W20 billion (US$1=W933) North Korea can expect as a reward under the agreement.
However, North Korea is unlikely to meet the deadline, 60 days from the original agreement, having delayed implementing its side of the deal due to wrangles over frozen funds of US$25 million in the Macau-based Banco Delta Asia.
But the South Korean government decided on Feb. 26 to spend W20 billion from the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund on purchasing the 50,000 tons of heavy oil. One week later, it signed the purchase contract with GS Caltex and borrowed an oil tanker from a Chinese company. The purchase was approved in a security policy meeting and by the National Security Council.
A government source said top officials made the decision and no suggestion of a delay in the oil purchase was reflected. A senior oil industry insider said there was no reason to hurry to borrow an oil tanker so early in the day, since this could have been contracted two weeks before shipment. The 50,000 tons of heavy oil is now stored in a GS Caltex refinery in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province. According to a government source, the oil storage costs W15 million a day and the lease of the oil tanker W60 million. Although the government has not revealed the lease period, sources presume that the oil tanker is contracted from mid-March to April 20 when the ship was expected to arrive in North Korea. Therefore, the expense will have been completely pointless unless North Korea shuts down its nuclear facilities by then.
A government official said the government had expected the Feb. 13 agreement to be implemented as scheduled without being hampered by the BDA issue.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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