Russia to continue fuel supplies to North Korea despite US suspension

[Thinking Man's Idiot]

Russia to continue fuel supplies to North Korea despite US suspension

(Sunday 14 December 2008)


MOSCOW declared at the weekend that it will continue providing fuel aid to North Korea after the United States suggested that all fuel shipments would be suspended.

The US, Russia, Japan, China and North and South Korea are engaged in long-running Chinese-sponsored talks on denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

Pyongyang has agreed in principle to scrap its nuclear programme in return for energy aid and diplomatic normalisation.


But the six parties ended their third meeting during the sixth round of talks in Beijing on Thursday without agreement on how to verify North Korean disarmament steps.


North Korea rejected a verification plan that called for nuclear inspectors to be able to remove samples from its nuclear sites for outside analysis.


US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack responded by suggesting that it had been agreed to halt fuel shipments in the absence of a verification deal.


Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Borodavkin said that he was "surprised" by the US statement.


Mr Borodavkin emphasised that Moscow will carry on delivering fuel to North Korea and urged other countries to meet their energy aid commitments.


"We hope that all the parties to the talks will comply with the existing agreements," he said.


Moscow confirmed that it will ship 50,000 metric tons of fuel oil in December and supply another 200,000 metric tons in the near future.

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