During the historic inter-Korean summit on April 27 this year, South Korean President Moon Jae-in delivered some information about the so-called “new economic map of the Korean Peninsula” to his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong-un. It is the Moon government’s policy goal of promoting economic cooperation between South and North Korea. There are high expectations for cross-border cooperation in the energy area, since it is impossible for North Korea to focus on its economic development without energy cooperation with South Korea. Inter-Korean energy cooperation—another axis connecting the two Koreas—dates back to 1994. Today, we’ll hear from Moon Dae-geun, former acting director of the Office of Planning for the Light-water Reactor Project.

The light-water reactor project was carried out under the 1994 Agreed Framework. The collapse of the communist countries in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union after 1989 made the North Korean regime feel an acute sense of crisis and prompted the nation to spur its nuclear weapons development. A picture of the Yongbyon nuclear site in North Korea was taken by a French commercial satellite, and the U.S. took issue with that. To make matters worse, North Korea rebuffed a proposal by the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, which called for a special inspection of some suspected sites in the North. Those led to the first North Korean nuclear crisis. To resolve the problem, North Korea and the U.S. engaged in negotiations. In the process, Pyongyang said that it would give up its nuclear programs in exchange for light-water nuclear reactors. So, South Korea and the U.S. discussed the provision of light-water reactors to North Korea to end the nuclear crisis.

North Korea joined the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, or NPT, in 1985. But it refused to accept the IAEA’s nuclear inspection and withdrew from the NPT in 1993. At the time, the U.S. government went as far as to discuss the bombing of the North Korean nuclear facility. But the situation turned around, as North Korea and the U.S. started bilateral talks in June 1993, after former U.S. President Jimmy Carter’s North Korea visit. After 16 months of talks, in October 1994, Pyongyang and Washington signed the Geneva Agreed Framework to patch up the nuclear crisis. The key part of the agreement was that North Korea would freeze its nuclear facilities in return for two light-water nuclear reactors capable of producing two million kilowatts of electricity. North Korea would also be provided with heavy oil as alternative energy until the completion of the reactors. The South Korean government actively participated in the light-water reactor project for the sake of better inter-Korean relations and regional peace. South Korea, the U.S., Japan and the European Union joined the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization, or KEDO, which was launched in March 1995. After three years of discussions between North Korea and KEDO, the groundbreaking ceremony for the light-water reactor project took place in August 1997. It marked the first time since the division of Korea that South Korean government officials and workers resided in North Korea for the largest inter-Korean construction project, namely, the light-water nuclear reactor project. Mr. Moon explains more.

At first, people from the South and the North felt awkward around each other. Since they didn’t know each other well, they experienced many trials and errors in the initial stage. North Koreans were deeply concerned about regime security. South Koreans were stunned by North Koreans’ perception of and attitude toward their dear leader, in particular. If a South Korean happened to sit on a newspaper with a picture of then-North Korean leader Kim Jong-il on it, that would be a big problem. People from the two sides sometimes clashed due to different systems, ideologies and behaviors. But in the process of meeting and talking frequently, they could understand one another. North Koreans, in particular, came to trust South Korean technologies and abilities. In the course of carrying out the light-water reactor project, the Mt. Geumgang tour business was launched and the Gaeseong industrial park opened.

A total of 14-thousand South Koreans visited North Korea for the reactor project, with North Korea, too, adding a lot of laborers and materials. The construction site in Sinpo, South Hamgyeong Province, became a venue for inter-Korean exchanges, as South and North Korea worked and sweated together for a shared goal. Without a doubt, the reactor project contributed to promoting inter-Korean cooperation and mutual trust. But the outside world looked at the project from a different angle. Mr. Moon continues.

The project was directly influenced by international politics. On top of that, it involved North Korea, the most closed and strictly controlled country in the world. Also, the executive board members of KEDO, such as South Korea, the U.S., Japan and the EU, had their own interests. It is clear that it was difficult for those countries with different interests to reach agreements, and the project proceeded very slowly. Furthermore, the Bush administration in the U.S. began to reexamine the U.S.-North Korea Agreed Framework under the principle of “no reward for bad behavior.” The Geneva Agreed Framework was, in effect, nullified after North Korea was suspected of developing nuclear weapons using highly-enriched uranium in 2002.

As Mr. Moon explained, the light-water reactor project faced a crisis in 2002 when the U.S. raised the suspicion that North Korea was running a nuclear program based on highly enriched uranium.

You just heard James Kelly, who visited North Korea in 2002 as a U.S. special envoy, eight years after the signing of the Agreed Framework. After he announced that North Korea had admitted to harboring its highly enriched uranium program, the construction of light-water reactors and Washington’s provision of heavy oil to North Korea stopped. In response, North Korea again withdrew from the NPT in 2003, and the 1994 Agreed Framework was eventually scrapped. Afterwards, the international community continued to make efforts to solve the North Korean nuclear issue, holding a series of three-way talks and six-party negotiations. As there was little progress, however, KEDO officially ended the light-water reactor project in June 2006. At the time, Mr. Moon undertook the task of terminating the reactor project as an expert in inter-Korean economic cooperation at the Unification Ministry. He had a lot of mixed emotions.

Personally, I felt as if I was a losing pitcher in baseball. I wished I had taken to the mound as a relief pitcher. I hoped that 13 years of effort and hard work by numerous people would not be wasted. When we completely pulled out of the construction site in December 2005, North Korean officials and workers said that they would keep everything intact, not even touching a single pencil, so we could meet again later. That was the most impressive moment for me. I thought North Koreans, too, felt very sorry for the suspension of the project.

It was hoped that the envisioned light-water reactors would enable North Korea to ease its severe energy shortage and ensure peace on the Korean Peninsula. Unfortunately, the project was only about 34 percent complete when it came to a halt. Mr. Moon promised to meet the North Koreans again when he left the construction site, where they had been working together. He still cherishes the hope of resuming the project.

While ending the incomplete project, I sincerely hoped that it would restart one day and I firmly believed that the hopeful day would come. North Korea froze its nuclear facilities for 13 years until the project was suspended. That means the North Korean nuclear crisis was eased to some extent during the period. The project enabled South and North Korea to maintain their cooperative relations and carry out exchanges, enhancing mutual understanding and confidence in the process. In fact, construction of light-water nuclear reactors is the cheapest way to deal with the electricity shortage in North Korea. The U.S. and South Korea are willing to provide light-water reactors to North Korea if the North implements the irreversible denuclearization, although Pyongyang doesn’t mention the reactor issue for now. A lot of money and diplomatic efforts were poured into the light-water reactor project. I wish the once-failed project will not end up being an empty dream but start again to become a blessing and steppingstone to peace and stability in the region and Korea’s unification.

The peace-advocating project was launched with the purpose of eliminating North Korea’s nuclear threats and contributed to the formation of the legal and institutional framework of inter-Korean exchanges.