officials said North Korea had admitted pursuing a nuclear arms development programme, violating the 1994 accord, known as the Agreed Framework. The world's last Cold War flashpoint went from reconciliation to crisis prevention last month, when U.S. Under a 1994 agreement, the North promised to freeze its nuclear weapons programme in return for fuel oil, paid for by Washington, and two light water reactors that cannot easily be converted to produce atomic weapons material. North Korea has not yet responded to the decision to cut the fuel shipments - a move Pyongyang envoys have said would be viewed as a hostile act. But they allowed delivery of the 42,500-tonne November batch, which was already on the high seas. The United States, Japan, South Korea and the European Union agreed to suspend the fuel oil shipments to North Korea from December. The cuts will hit North Korea just ahead of winter, which brings sub-freezing temperatures. Washington and its allies decided last week to stop vital fuel oil aid to penalise Pyongyang for breaking a series of non-proliferation pledges. In return, an international consortium is building new nuclear reactors in North Korea. The 1994 Agreed Framework was signed by North Korea with the Clinton administration.North Korea launched a medium-range "test" missile over Japan in 1998.
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