An international consortium has demanded North Korea pay almost $2 billion in compensation for a project to build two nuclear reactors that was scrapped after the United States accused Pyongyang of cheating on the deal.
"The KEDO board calculated the amount of $1.89 billion and has made the demand to North Korea," a diplomatic source said by telephone on Tuesday on condition of anonymity.
KEDO - which stands for the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organisation and is made up of South Korea, Japan, the United States and the European Union - terminated the project last year after suspending the deal in 2002 amid suspicions the North was pursuing clandestine nuclear activities. North Korea conducted its first nuclear test in October last year and now refers to itself as a nuclear state.