Statement by Foreign Minister Yohei Kono on the Signing of the Turn-key Contract of the Korean Peninsula Development Organization (KEDO) for the Light-Water Reactor Project

"The World and Japan" Database (Project Leader: TANAKA Akihiko)

Database of Japanese Politics and International Relations

National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS); Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia (IASA), The University of Tokyo

[Title] Statement by Foreign Minister Yohei Kono on the Signing of the Turn-key Contract of the Korean Peninsula Development Organization (KEDO) for the Light-Water Reactor Project

[Place]

[Date] December 15, 1999

[Source] Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan

[Notes]

[Full text]

1. Today, on December 15, the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) and the Korean Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) signed and concluded the turn-key contract for starting the full scale construction of a light-water reactor. As one of the major members of KEDO, the Government of Japan has been making efforts to promote the implementation of this project. Thus I welcome today's signing of the contract.

2. As a prerequisite for KEDO to provide North Korea with a light-water reactor, it is necessary for North Korea to fully comply with its International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards agreement and, by doing so, clear itself of the past suspicion of developing nuclear weapons. Japan urges North Korea to respond positively to the call of the international community and cooperate fully with the countries concerned and IAEA in order to fulfill its commitment.

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