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MEDIA RELEASE Jft MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS ALEXANDER DOWNER  FA97

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18 August 1997

AUSTRALIAN PARTICIPATION IN KEDO GROUND-BREAKING CEREMONY

Australia will be represented at a milestone event in North Korea tomorrow marking the  commencement of the lightwater reactor project being undertaken by the Korean Peninsula  Energy Development Organisation (KEDO).

The Australian Ambassador to the Republic of Korea, Mr Mack Williams, will attend a  ground-breaking ceremony at the reactor site in Kumho on the east coast of North Korea on  19 August, along with representatives of nine other KEDO member countries and the  Commission of the European Communities.

KEDO is an international consortium set up under the terms of the U.S.lNorth Korea Agreed  Framework in 1994 which resulted from widespread concern about the possibie development  of a North Korean nuclear weapons capability. Under the Agreed Framework, North Korea  committed itself to a freeze on key components of its nuclear program and to come into full  compliance with its Safeguards Agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency  (IAEA). In return, it is being assisted in meeting its energy needs, particularly for heating and  electricity generation, with the provision of two lightwater reactors and 500,000 metric tons of  heavy fuel oil annually until the reactors come on stream.

It is very pleasing that despite long-standing tensions on the Korean Peninsula and the many  practical problems associated with the project, it has now reached construction stage. This  remarkable achievement has been made possible through the persistence of the three  principal members of KEDO (the United States, the Republic of Korea and Japan) and the  cooperation of the North Korean authorities. It is also a tribute to the tireless efforts of the

KEDO Secretariat and its Executive Director, Mr Stephen Bosworth.

In my judgement, support for KEDO from other members of the international community IS  also making an important contribution to KEDO's progress. Australia has provided strong  political and financial support for KEDO, having contributed a total of $10.8 million, all of  which has gone towards the costs of supplying heavy fuel oil to North Korea. This support  reflects the Government's assessment that KEDO is playing a valuable, and indeed unique,  role in reducing tensions on the Korean Peninsula, contributing to global nuclear  non-proliferation and forging unprecedented cooperation between the two Koreas. As such, it  constitutes a valuable preventive diplomacy and confidence building mechanism.

Peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula is of vital strategic importance to Australia, the  United States and North East Asia more generally. For these reasons, and because of our  humanitarian concern for the welfare of the North Korean people, the Australian Government  has been active not only in KEDO, but in providing prompt and generous humanitarian  assistance to North Korea through United Nations agencies.

Media releases and speeches are available from DFAT via the intemet. http://www.dfat .Qov.au/

The ground-breaking ceremony will mark the first time for many decades that senior  representatives of such a group of countries will gather simultaneously in North Korea. It is  my strong hope that as dialogue between the two Koreas, the United States and China  develops under the aegis of the Four Party Talks, this event will prove to be the pre-cursor to  increasing cooperation between North Korea and the international community.

PORT VILA

Further information: Innes Willox. (0411) 414 695, Minister's office .

Kirk Coningham (0418) 623 327, Departmental.

