World

N. Korea: Nukes For Potatoes

March 16, 1999 / 1:51 PM EST / AP

North Korea wanted $300 million for access to a suspect nuclear site and settled for super potatoes.

North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan said his government was "very happy" with Tuesday's agreement. He might have good reason, in addition to the spuds.

In the deal, the United States agreed that, in return for the right to inspect the Kumchang-ni underground site, it would help North Korea increase potato yields as a step "to improve political and economic relations between the two countries."

Food shortages and famine-related illnesses have killed up to 2 million of North Korea's 23 million people during the past three years, according to U.S. congressional estimates.

While insisting food donations would not be part of any deal, the United States last year (while negotiations were under way) pledged 500,000 tons of additional food aid to North Korea in response to an appeal for donations by the U.N. World Food Program.

Not all of the 500,000 tons has been delivered, but a U.S. official said the remaining amount would be shipped to North Korea.

The United States is also supplying Pyongyang with nearly half of its heavy oil under a 1994 agreement to freeze what Washington believed was a promising nuclear weapons program.

Sokolski questioned what the United States will get from the latest deal since North Korea is reportedly working on making weapons-usable uranium with centrifuges and has had almost a year to "clean out" the suspect Kumchang-ni underground site.

He also noted in a statement that the Defense Department has reportedly singled out 12 other sites it would like to visit.

"The agreement we've reached addresses all of our concerns, and it will enable us both to confirm and monitor the current and future use of the suspect site," Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said in a statement.

Since last August, the United States has pressed for access to the Kumchang-ni site. U.S. officials believe North Korea may be developing nuclear weapons at the site in violation of the 1994 accord.