Agreed Framework

Agreed Framework, 1994 political agreement in which North Korea agreed to suspend its nuclear power program in return for increased energy aid from the United States. The Agreed Framework sought to replace North Korea’s nuclear power program with U.S-supplied light-water reactors, which are more resistant to nuclear proliferation. Despite some success with initial implementation, the agreement effectively ended in 2003 because of open hostility between the two countries.

An international crisis was triggered in early 1994 when North Korea threatened to convert 8,000 irradiated fuel rods from its nuclear facility at Yŏngbyŏn into enough plutonium to manufacture four or five nuclear weapons. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the organization charged with enforcing the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), urged the UN Security Council to impose strict sanctions on North Korea. At the same time, U.S. President Bill Clinton instructed the Department of Defense to plan for an invasion of North Korea. When the North Koreans began unloading the fuel rods from the Yŏngbyŏn reactor in April, war on the Korean peninsula appeared likely.

However, members of the Clinton administration still hoped that the North Koreans were bluffing. The North Korean government had made similar threats to manufacture nuclear weapons in 1993 but relented when the United States agreed to discuss trade and security issues. Clinton and his advisers suspected that the North Koreans did not want a war to commence but also could not tolerate the humiliation of capitulating to IAEA demands.

At the height of the crisis, former U.S. president Jimmy Carter accepted a long-standing invitation from North Korean President Kim Il-Sung. With the consent of the Clinton administration, Carter traveled to North Korea and met with Kim on June 16, 1994. During their meeting, Kim argued that North Korea only wanted to generate nuclear energy. He offered to close the Yŏngbyŏn facility if the United States agreed to supply light-water reactors to meet North Korea’s energy demands. Carter assured Kim that such an arrangement could be made if North Korea suspended its nuclear program and allowed the IAEA inspectors to remain in the country. This meeting formed the basis for the Agreed Framework between the United States and North Korea.

Formal negotiations between the two nations began on July 8, 1994, and the final agreement was signed on October 21. The document contained five principles. First, the United States and an international consortium would build two light-water reactors in North Korea by 2003. In return, the North Koreans would freeze all activity at Yŏngbyŏn and allow IAEA inspectors to monitor the facility. Second, North Korea would submit to all IAEA inspections. Third, the United States would supply North Korea with 500,000 tons of heavy fuel oil annually until the light-water reactors were completed. Fourth, the two nations would pursue normalized diplomatic relations. Finally, North Korea agreed to reopen a political dialogue with South Korea. The agreement offered the hope of sustained peace on the Korean peninsula.

In retrospect, the Agreed Framework was not the success it appeared at the time it was signed. The United States and North Korea failed to normalize relations with one another, and North Korea periodically blocked the IAEA inspections. In October 2002 North Korea admitted that it had created a separate program to manufacture uranium-based nuclear weapons. The United States, in turn, suspended its heavy-oil shipments and stopped construction on the light-water reactors. In retaliation, North Korea withdrew from the NPT, expelled all IAEA inspectors, and reactivated its plutonium program at Yŏngbyŏn, thus ending the agreement. As a result, negotiations over North Korea’s nuclear program evolved into a larger process known as the Six Party Talks, which included the U.S, South Korea, Japan, China, and Russia.