Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, August 13, 1994 TAG: 9408190017
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: GENEVA LENGTH: Medium
In a joint statement, the United States said it would help North Korea switch to a safer nuclear technology, which can less easily produce bomb-making plutonium.
In return, North Korea said it would continue to observe a freeze on nuclear activities and would remain part of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
However, both U.S. delegation chief Robert Gallucci and North Korean vice foreign minister Kang Sok Ju made it clear that many problems remained untackled.
They agreed to meet again in Geneva Sept. 23 to iron out further difficulties.
In particular, the agreement fell short of securing guarantees from Pyongyang to open up all its nuclear facilities to unlimited inspections. This is Washington's ultimate aim to clear up doubts that North Korea might have secretly developed atomic weapon capabilities.
In Washington, a Clinton administration official called the agreement ``very significant'' but said much remains to be settled.
The two sides said that the fate of 8,000 spent fuel rods corroding in a cooling pond north of Pyongyang remained undecided. Western experts say reprocessing would produce enough plutonium for five nuclear bombs.
Also, although there was an outline agreement that the United States should provide North Korea with the light-water reactors it wants to replace its graphite moderated reactors - which can produce more plutonium - the details were left to be settled at a later date.
Kang said his country would stop construction of further graphite reactors only once it received firm guarantees that it would get the light-water reactors, which cost up to $2 billion.
by CNB