DJ Australia Won't Give Oil To N Korea Amid Deadlock18/12/2008 08:20PM AEST TOKYO (AFP)--Australia will not take part in the fuel aid program for energy-strapped North Korea until Pyongyang agrees to a written plan to verify its nuclear disarmament, its foreign minister said Thursday.
Stephen Smith, on a visit to Tokyo, acknowledged that Washington had asked Australia to take Japan's place in the fuel aid shipments promised to North Korea under six-nation nuclear talks.
"Australia was approached by the United States in the context of the six-party talks," he said after giving a speech at the Japan Institute of International Affairs.
"Our ongoing disposition will be in principle we're prepared to make a contribution, but we need to see progress made so far as verification is concerned," he said.
"I don't see given that outcome that there is any realistic prospect that Australia will make a contribution in a short term."
The six parties struck a landmark deal in February 2007 that promised diplomatic and economic incentives - including energy aid - to North Korea in return for giving up the nuclear program it spent decades developing.
But after the latest round of negotiations in Beijing collapsed earlier this month, the United States said there would be no more fuel aid shipments until Pyongyang agreed to a written plan to verify its nuclear disarmament.
Japan has refused to give its share of aid promised to North Korea until it reveals more about Japanese civilians abducted in the 1970s and 1980s, leading Washington to seek an alternative supplier of fuel.
The six-nation talks involve China, Japan, the two Koreas, Russia and the United States.
Japan's conservative prime minister Taro Aso has faced criticism at home that Tokyo is losing clout in the six-nation talks, while Australia's center-left government has sought a more active role in Asian affairs.
