SEOUL - South Korea will start shipping oil to North Korea next week, an official said on Wednesday, a day after UN nuclear inspectors said the reclusive state had agreed to steps verifying a shutdown of its nuclear programme. Under a disarmament-for-aid pact reached in six-country talks in February, impoverished North Korea pledged to start closing its Soviet-era Yongbyon reactor in exchange for 50,000 tonnes of heavy oil from its neighbour. ‘The first shipment will start next week and the initial amount will be between 5,000 and 10,000 tonnes,’ a South Korean Unification Ministry official said.
South Korea started massive food aid to North Korea at the weekend, citing progress in the nuclear talks as the reason for resuming aid suspended last year after the North test-fired a volley of ballistic missiles. Pyongyang has been able to win these concessions even though it missed a mid-April deadline to start shutting its reactor.
| Kinda makes you wonder why they'd ever shut the reactor: it's way too useful to them as an extortion tool. |
| If the SKors are going to cave completely, might be time to remind them that they can handle their own defense needs. Pull out another brigade and an air wing. |