In June 1994, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter was sent to the DPRK as an envoy. Meetings there laid the foundations of the DPRK-U.S. Agreed Framework. In the face of full implementation by the DPRK, the U.S. has failed to comply with its part of the agreement. There have been so many delays of the LWR project that it cannot possibly be completed by 2003, the KCNA report points out. Even the ground-breaking did not begin until August 1997, and site preparation, scheduled to be finished within 14 months, is only 95 per cent complete.
Actual construction has yet to begin.
Far from implementing the Agreed Framework as a basis for building confidence and improving relations, the U.S. has deliberately delayed implementation of its commitments. The U.S., representing the international consortium, will serve as the principal point of contact with the DPRK for the LWR project. The DPRK has seen no such steps on the part of the U.S. administration thus far. KCNA points out that the Agreed Framework was only made possible by the courageous decision made by the DPRK to sacrifice its self-reliant nuclear power industry. A decision taken on the basis of good-faith to forwarding the aims of the Agreed Framework of building confidence and bettering relations between the two nations.