The Agreed Framework was signed on October 21, 1994 between North Korea and the United States. It provided that North Korea would dismantle its nuclear weapons program and the United States, Japan, and South Korea would provide massive economic aid. [1]

The pact is neither a treaty subject to Senate approval nor a contract, but more of a memorandum of understanding between the two countries. It was signed in the wake of North Korea's abandonment of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty [2] and a military buildup by the United States near the country and had been touted as a horribly naive move by the Clinton administration.

Terms of the pact included the shutdown of the Yongbyon nuclear reactor and the removal of spent fuel which could have been reprocessed to create plutonium for a nuclear weapon in exchange for the construction of two light-water nuclear reactors at a cost of $4 billion, to be primarily supplied by Japan and North Korea. In the interim, North Korea would be supplied with 500,000 tons of heavy fuel oil, at no cost, to make up for lost energy production.

The Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization, or KEDO, is a consortium of the United States, South Korea, Japan, and various other states that is responsible for carrying out the 1994 U.S.-North Korea nuclear pact.

There were increasing disagreement between North Korea and U.S. on the scope and implementation of the treaty. When by 1999 economic sanctions had not been lifted and full diplomatic relations between U.S. and North Korea had not been established, North Korea warned that they would resume nuclear research unless the U.S. kept up its end of the bargain. U.S. has repeatedly stated that further implementation would be stalled as long as suspicions remained that the North Korean nuclear weapons research program continued covertly.

Construction of the first reactor began in August 2002. Construction of both reactors is behind schedule. The initial plan was for both reactors were to be operational by 2003, but the construction had been halted indefinitely in late 2002.

In October 2002, a U.S. delegation to North Korea accused it of continuing its nuclear weapons development. North Korea took strong exception to the charge, claiming that its interpretation of the framework allowed it to continue programs other than those identified in the agreement. However, North Korea did not state explicitly that it was pursuing nuclear weapons. Relations between the two countries, which had seemed hopeful two years earlier, quickly deteriorated into open hostility. North Korea finally declared that it had nuclear weapons in February 2005.

KEDO members considered in November 2002 whether to halt the fuel oil shipments in response to the previous month's developments. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly warned Japanese officials that the U.S. Congress would not fund such shipments in the face of continued violations. The shipments were halted in December.

See also

• List of Korea-related topics

External links

• Text of the Agreed Framework between the US and N. Korea - October 21, 1994
• Ch 14: North Korea from Deadly Arsenals, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (2002)
• Expelled UN Inspectors Leave N Korea - editorial from Guardian Newspapers
• The Nautilus Institute Indepth coverage of the North Korean situation since 1997
• North Korea's Nuclear Breach Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
• The Pact That the Koreans Flouted, The New York Times, October 17, 2002
• ABB to deliver systems, equipment to North Korean nuclear plants ABB News Release, January 20, 2000