South Korea prepares oil for North in nuclear deal
Seoul, June 18: South Korea is in talks with two domestic oil refiners to supply oil to North Korea as part of a deal under which the reclusive state would shut down its reactor in return for aid, industry sources said today.
Seoul, Washington and others were encouraged that talks aimed at coaxing North Korea to live up to the nuclear disarmament deal reached in February could move ahead after Pyongyang said at the weekend it had invited UN nuclear inspectors into the country.
South Korea's Unification Ministry, in charge of shipping the energy aid to North Korea, had contacted the country's two major refiners, SK Corp. and GS Caltex Corp., for the purchase of 50,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil, sources from the refiners said.
''The ministry has already notified a number of refiners so that the purchase could be made within this week,'' said a refinery source. Ministry officials would not comment on the purchase.
Seoul pledged to provide its impoverished neighbour with the oil if it began shutting its reactor and source of fissile material for nuclear weapons as part of the deal reached among the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.
Last week, North Korean funds frozen in a Macau bank were released. Pyongyang said it would not start to implement the nuclear deal until it received the funds blocked for nearly two years for suspected links to illicit activity by the North.
Reuters
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