ID :
57170
Fri, 04/24/2009 - 07:39
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/57170
The shortlink copeid
Clinton asks for budget for N. Korean denuclearization By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, April 23 (Yonhap) -- The Barack Obama administration's budget has an earmark for the dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear weapons programs under a six-party deal, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday, even though the multinational talks are on the brink of collapse after North Korea's recent rocket launch.
"We are asking for small investments targeted to specific concerns ... the
dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear program, assuming that they come back to
the six-party talks," Clinton told a House Appropriations Committee hearing.
The Obama administration has asked for US$176.5 million in the budget for the
fiscal year starting October for North Korea's denuclearization.
The U.S. is obligated to provide 200,000 tons of heavy fuel oil and spend some
money on disabling North Korea's nuclear facilities in the second phase of the
six-party deal.
The third and final phase calls for dismantlement of all of North Korea's nuclear
programs and facilities in return for the North getting hefty economic and
political benefits from the five other parties to the talks, South Korea, the
U.S., China, Russia and Japan.
North Korea, however, declared recently that it is through with the six-party
talks and threatened to restart its disabled nuclear facilities and strengthen
its nuclear arsenal in anger over the U.N. Security Council's condemnation of its
rocket launch this month.
North Korea insists it orbited a communications satellite, although the U.S. and
its allies say it was a disguised ballistic missile test.
Some analysts say North Korea aims to disrupt the six-party talks with the goal
of reviving bilateral talks with the U.S., discontinued after President George W.
Bush's inauguration in 2001.
U.S. congressional reports have estimated the dismantlement of North Korea's
nuclear facilities will cost up to $575 million over the next several years.
The bill, HR 2642, the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2008, enables the U.S.
government to finance the dismantling of North Korea's nuclear facilities through
2013, overriding the Glenn Amendment, which bans any financial aid to states that
have conducted a nuclear test.
The U.S. spent $25 million on North Korea in the fiscal year that ended in
September last year.
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)
"We are asking for small investments targeted to specific concerns ... the
dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear program, assuming that they come back to
the six-party talks," Clinton told a House Appropriations Committee hearing.
The Obama administration has asked for US$176.5 million in the budget for the
fiscal year starting October for North Korea's denuclearization.
The U.S. is obligated to provide 200,000 tons of heavy fuel oil and spend some
money on disabling North Korea's nuclear facilities in the second phase of the
six-party deal.
The third and final phase calls for dismantlement of all of North Korea's nuclear
programs and facilities in return for the North getting hefty economic and
political benefits from the five other parties to the talks, South Korea, the
U.S., China, Russia and Japan.
North Korea, however, declared recently that it is through with the six-party
talks and threatened to restart its disabled nuclear facilities and strengthen
its nuclear arsenal in anger over the U.N. Security Council's condemnation of its
rocket launch this month.
North Korea insists it orbited a communications satellite, although the U.S. and
its allies say it was a disguised ballistic missile test.
Some analysts say North Korea aims to disrupt the six-party talks with the goal
of reviving bilateral talks with the U.S., discontinued after President George W.
Bush's inauguration in 2001.
U.S. congressional reports have estimated the dismantlement of North Korea's
nuclear facilities will cost up to $575 million over the next several years.
The bill, HR 2642, the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2008, enables the U.S.
government to finance the dismantling of North Korea's nuclear facilities through
2013, overriding the Glenn Amendment, which bans any financial aid to states that
have conducted a nuclear test.
The U.S. spent $25 million on North Korea in the fiscal year that ended in
September last year.
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)
