US ships heavy fuel to NKorea despite slowing of nuclear disarmament

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
The United States said Wednesday it has shipped 50,000 metric tons of heavy fuel oil to North Korea as part of a nuclear disarmament deal, even as the North slows nuclear disablement efforts because of what it says are delays in energy aid shipments. State Department spokesman Robert Wood told reporters that the US fuel shipment was to arrive in the North in two stages, in late November and early December. It is unclear, however, if that will ease North Korean anger and lead to progress in the often contentious, often deadlocked international efforts to persuade the North to abandon its nuclear weapons.