Washington Post: Russia Secretly Offered to Build Nuclear Power Plant for North Korea

The Washington Post reports that Russia had secretly proposed to Pyongyang to build a nuclear power plant for North Korea in exchange for the country abandoning its nuclear and military programs. The report, published on January 29, cites unnamed U.S. government officials. The newspaper states that Moscow's proposal was made 'a few months ago' and that U.S. security officials only became aware of it in late 2018. Russia had offered to build, operate, and manage a nuclear power plant for North Korea and to transfer nuclear waste from North Korea to Russia, thereby reducing the risks associated with using the plant to produce nuclear weapons in North Korea. The White House has not yet responded to the Washington Post's report. Donald Trump had a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in late spring of last year; the first such meeting between the leaders during their terms. Kim and Trump agreed to take steps towards denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. However, since the meeting between the U.S. President and the North Korean leader, there have been few concrete and practical steps taken towards dismantling North Korea's nuclear and missile arsenal. Notably, Pyongyang did not conduct any ballistic missile or nuclear weapon tests in 2018. The leaders of the U.S. and North Korea are expected to meet again soon. Suh Hoon, head of South Korea's intelligence agency, stated on Tuesday in a meeting with his country's parliamentary intelligence committee that Pyongyang and Washington are preparing to draft a joint statement for the upcoming meeting. This is the first time a senior official from Seoul has mentioned the possibility of a new joint statement from Kim and Trump. U.S. security agencies expressed doubts about North Korea's nuclear disarmament in a report presented to the U.S. Senate on Tuesday. Dan Coats, the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, emphasized that Kim Jong-un has expressed his support for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and has not conducted any missile tests capable of carrying a nuclear warhead or nuclear tests recently: 'Nevertheless, our current assessment is that North Korea seeks to maintain weapons of mass destruction and is unlikely to give up its nuclear weapons and capabilities to produce such weapons, as nuclear weapons play a vital role in the regime's survival from the perspective of its leaders.'