hankyoreh

South Korea has announced plans to adjust the amount of rice and fertilizer aid to North Korea by linking it to progress in North Korea’s human rights situation.

At a press conference held on March 13, an official of the Ministry of Unification said, “It will be appropriate to pursue unconditional humanitarian aid to North Korea, as long as the distribution methods are transparent. However, the reaction of the Northern side should also correspond to South Korea’s expectations for the human rights situation, prisoners of war, kidnappings to the North and separated families.” The official added that the government could consider providing large-scale humanitarian aid, depending on progress on the North Korean nuclear issue and the North’s attitude.

“The scale of annual assistance to North Korea ‘has not been small,’ and the government will decide whether or not to continue to provide aid based on the reaction of Pyongyang,” Unification Minister Kim Ha-joong said. It is not appropriate for the nation to reveal its intentions fully, when North Korea has continued to be silent about assistance from the South, the minister added. Seoul has provided 200,000-300,000 tons of fertilizer since 1999, and 300,000-500,000 tons of rice in the form of a loan since 2000.

With respect to the possibility that North Korea could take countermeasures in certain places such as the West Sea to tame the South’s new government, Kim downplayed the likelihood of such an event, saying, “China, the host of the Summer Olympics this August, will not welcome such complications on the Korean Peninsula. From now on, it can’t be that one thing tames another. We won’t rush, but will wait for the situation to progress.”

Regarding the timetable for inter-Korean relations for the first half of this year, which was agreed upon at the inter-Korean summit held in October, a ministry official said that it would be desirable for the government to take its time, and pursue the timetable multilaterally. “If the two Koreas meet, it will be important to bring about favorable results. The government will act by considering the realities of the situation.”

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