The Unification Ministry says it will cooperate with the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization to terminate the light-water reactor project in North Korea.

The ministry said Thursday in a statement that it regrets that the project was terminated without achieving its goal, asking for public understanding and cooperation on the matter.

The Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization on Wednesday announced the scrapping of the project that was begun in 1996 under the Agreed Framework signed two years earlier.

The ministry also said it will not incur additional costs from the termination and ruled out losses for the Korea Electric Power Corporation in Seoul, the main contractor for the project, since it will take relevant technical documents and equipment in the design or production phases.

The reactors were offered to the energy-starved North in exchange for Pyongyang's scrapping of its nuclear program.

American officials visiting Pyongyang in 2002 accused the North of running a secret nuclear program in violation of the agreement. Construction was suspended in late 2003 due to Pyongyang's boycott of the six-way disarmament talks.