Bush Wants to Halt Oil Shipments to N. Korea

President Bush wants to halt oil shipments to North Korea in the wake of that country’s admission that it has pursued a secret nuclear weapons program, administration officials said Wednesday.

The policy, which U.S. diplomats hope will be backed by Japan, South Korea and the European Union, would allow delivery of a shipment now on its way to North Korea. But that would be the last unless Pyongyang gives up the program, the officials said on the condition of anonymity.

The shipments are part of an energy assistance plan approved for North Korea in 1994 to steer it away from nuclear weapons.

The fate of the shipments will be discussed today by the board of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization, composed of the United States, Japan, South Korea and the EU.