Mark Yannone - Issues - Foreign Aid - Foreign Aid Budget - Korean Peninsula Energy Development Corporation (KEDO)

Issues - Foreign Aid - Foreign Aid Budget - Korean Peninsula Energy Development Corporation (KEDO)

"I have always felt that the real purpose of government is to enhance the lives of people and that a leader can best do that by restraining government in most cases instead of enlarging it at every opportunity."

Gerald R. Ford, US President, 1979

In October 1994, the United States and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) signed an historic agreement, the Agreed Framework. Under the Agreement, the DPRK agreed to freeze and dismantle its nuclear program. This event was significant because of international concern over the capabilities of the DPRK to separate weapons-grade plutonium. The separation of plutonium could have been used in nuclear weapons, from spent nuclear fuel. The DPRK facilities subject to the freeze included an operational 5 MWe experimental graphite-moderated reactor, a partially complete reprocessing facility, and a 50 Mw power reactor under construction, all at the Yongbyon Nuclear Research Center, as well as a 200 MWe power reactor under construction at Taechon.

In return for the Agreement, the United States agreed to finance and construct two light-water reactors (LWR) of the Korean Standard Nuclear Power Plant model. This construction would provide the DPRK with an alternative source of energy in the form of 500,000 metric tons of heavy fuel oil each year for heating and electricity production until the first of those reactors is completed. The LWR plant, consisting of the two LWR units, will be the first of their kind to be built and operated in the DPRK.

In support of the Agreement, KEDO was established on March 15, 1995, when Japan, the Republic of Korea (ROK), and the United States expressed their common desire to implement and signed the Agreement on the Establishment of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO). As KEDO's founding members, these three countries constituted the Organization's Executive Board. However, KEDO's charter allowed for additional states and international organizations that support the purposes of the Organization and offer assistance, such as providing funds, goods, or services, to also become members of the Organization. The Establishment Agreement also allows for expansion of the Executive Board on the basis of substantial and sustained support to the Organization.

In 1995, New Zealand, Australia and Canada joined KEDO by accepting the principles within the Organization's charter . In 1996 Indonesia, Chile, and Argentina joined the Organization. On September 19, 1997, the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC) joined KEDO with representation on KEDO's Executive Board for a term to coincide with their substantial and sustained support. Later that year Poland joined. The Czech Republic and Uzbekistan became members in 1999 and 2000, respectively. In addition to its member states, KEDO has received material and financial support from nineteen other non-member, contributing states.

Find out more about KEDO by clicking HERE

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