U.S. May Block N. Korea Oil Deal if Pilot Is Not Released

The outgoing chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee said Tuesday that Congress will block a scheduled $5-million shipment of oil to North Korea if that country does not release a pilot whose helicopter was shot down after straying into North Korea on Dec. 17.

The United States has said it would allow the oil shipment to occur under the terms of an agreement that requires North Korea to begin unraveling its nuclear weapons program, but Foreign Affairs Chairman Lee H. Hamilton (D-Ind.) predicted that Congress will scuttle the accord unless North Korea returns Army Chief Warrant Officer Bobby Hall.

Another congressman, who was in North Korea when Hall was captured and thought that he had secured a promise from the North Koreans to return him, said Pyongyang officials “are putting us through water torture.”

Interviewed on NBC-TV’s “Today” show, Rep. Bill Richardson (D-N.M.) counseled patience while State Department official Thomas Hubbard, who arrived in North Korea today, negotiates further.

Richardson said the situation has been complicated by a struggle between North Korea’s Foreign Ministry, which seems ready to release Hall, and its military Establishment, which apparently does not agree.

“Let’s right now keep an eye on the ball with our diplomat,” Richardson said. “It may take a few weeks longer. But I think we have to keep an eye on the prize.”

Hubbard, a deputy assistant secretary of state, was in Seoul for consultations with U.S. and South Korean officials. He crossed the demilitarized zone into North Korea early today for negotiations.

The North Koreans insist that Hall was taking part in an espionage mission when his helicopter was shot down over North Korea. A second pilot, Chief Warrant Officer David Hilemon, died in the crash. His body was returned last week.

Hamilton, who was interviewed on the same program as Richardson, said there is no reason to link Hall’s release with implementation of the pending nuclear agreement. Even so, he said, it will be difficult to separate the two issues.

“If this airman is not returned, then it is bound to have a negative impact on our relationship with North Korea, and it’s bound to have a negative impact on the attitude of the Congress toward this agreement,” said Hamilton, who will become the panel’s ranking Democrat when Republicans take control of Congress next week.

“We have to provide some $5 million worth of heavy fuel to North Korea under this agreement,” Hamilton said. “It’s difficult for me to see the Congress doing that unless this airman is returned.”

Hamilton was circumspect in dealing with Pyongyang’s accusation of espionage. “I have absolutely no information that would lead me to think the American helicopter inside North Korea was anything other than an inadvertent navigational mistake,” he said.