South Korea will send some emergency aid to North http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSSP114669
Thu Jun 14, 2007
(Adds WFP statement)
SEOUL, June 14 (Reuters) - South Korea said on Thursday that it would send a small amount of food to the impoverished North as part of an international aid effort but any large shipments would remain dependent on Pyongyang's nuclear disarmament.
Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung said Seoul would meet a World Food Programme (WFP) request to send 44,000 tonnes of food aid, over half of it corn, across the heavily fortified border.
"Regarding the request, our government has taken into account the difficult food situation of North Korea ... our responsibility in the international community and domestic public opinion about humanitarian support," Lee told reporters.
Last month, the United Nations food agency said it would have to suspend rations in June for 400,000 of the 700,000 North Koreans it is feeding because of a lack of donations.
WFP welcomed the move but warned that many millions in North Korea, or the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, still faced food shortage.
"This crucial and very generous donation will allow us to increase our response to the most pressing needs of the people of the DPRK," Josette Sheeran, WFP Executive Director, said in a statement.
"The significant gap between food required and food available in the DPRK has led to growing hardship and suffering for millions."
North Korea, barely able to feed its population in the best of crop years, has been all but frozen out of the international community since it carried out a nuclear test last October.
South Korea had promised to send in 400,000 tonnes of rice to help its reclusive neighbour through lean times but later -- to Pyongyang's fury -- said North Korea would first have to honour a pledge to start dismantling its nuclear weapons programme.
However, that pledge, agreed at international talks in February, has been put on ice in a dispute over North Korean funds stuck in a Macau bank. That dispute now appears to be close to a resolution.
Lee said the government had also agreed to send 10,500 tonnes of rice to the North as part of a promise last year to help it recover from flood damage. (Additional reporting by Rhee So-eui)
© Reuters 2007. All rights reserved.