Nuke Project Brings Divided Koreas Together U.S.-Backed Power Plant Will Replace One North Could Have Used For A-Bomb

Waters South Korean officials set sail for North Korea on Monday to break ground on a nuclear plant whose construction is seen as a unique chance for the two rivals to work together.

The diplomats, backed by an international delegation, cruised to North Korea’s east coast for a ceremony today to mark the start of work on two reactors, the product of a 1994 accord between the United States and North Korea.

That pact was designed to put an end to what the United States, Japan and South Korea feared was North Korea’s plan to develop an atomic weapon. The project will take 10 years and cost $5 billion. Construction begins next year.

By bringing the two nations into close cooperation, the project offers a chance for reconciliation and mutual trust, said Chang Sun-sup, South Korea’s chief representative on the project.

“This is a kind of test or touchstone to know if the divided two Koreas can work together,” he told a pool of reporters.

The project will bring together thousands of officials and workers from North and South Korea, which normally bar their people from communicating with each other.

Crowds cheered as the Hannara pulled out of Tonghae Harbor at dusk, sailing for the north indirectly to avoid the appearance of coming directly from South Korea. The South Korean flag is also to be lowered before reaching Yanghwa pilot station.

Stephen Bosworth, the U.S. ambassador-designate to South Korea, told journalists aboard the ship that the United States had contributed up to $90 million over the last 2-1/2 years to the project.

“This is not an insignificant amount of money, but when you measure it against what we gain, it is a bargain,” Bosworth said.

The contingent of South Koreans, diplomats and journalists were to arrive this morning in North Korea. There is no direct ground or air transport between the two Koreas.

The two nuclear reactors will replace a Soviet-designed reactor that produced significant amounts of high-grade plutonium, a key element in building atomic weapons. North Korea has taken that reactor out of service and eventually will dismantle it.