N.K. to bargain for aid at talks today

The inter-Korean Red Cross talks today are expected to determine whether Seoul and Pyongyang can actually start splitting the differences between their targets.

The North`s apology on Wednesday for last month`s deadly flash flood may have been a promising start in mending fences, but what is really at stake is how willing the two sides are in terms of compromise on future exchanges.

Inter-Korean relations revolve around mainly economic cooperation and humanitarian issues including families separated by the inter-Korean border and aid for the impoverished North Korean people.

The South`s clear aim for today`s Red Cross talks, which are about humanitarian issues, is to hold more reunion events for families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.



It projects having the families meet in Seoul and Pyongyang next month and again around New Year`s Day as a viable goal and hopes to discuss plans for having the reunions on a regular basis at the new convention center in the North`s Mt. Geumgang resort.

The North`s agenda will be receiving enough aid of staple food or fertilizer in return.

Having made an indirect request for aid over the last round of family reunions in August, North Korea undoubtedly expects an answer today.

Seoul has denied any plans for resuming massive shipments of rice or fertilizer to the North, which stopped after President Lee Myung-bak took office early last year, while leaving room for aid in smaller amounts, namely tens of thousands of tons.

"The North has its own expectations for restoring ties with the South; why else would Kim Jong-il repeatedly deliver conciliatory messages and apologize to the South?" said Yang Moo-jin, professor at the University of North Korean Studies.

"Judging from past experiences, the North would probably demand at least 100,000 tons of rice aid as it used to receive about 200,000 to 300,000 tons of rice or fertilizer (under former administrations in Seoul) before or after family reunions."

The bargaining for aid today would inevitably add greater pressure on Seoul to consider resumption of aid, apart from its much questioned allocation of budget for inter-Korean cooperation to nongovernmental organizations.

Nongovernmental humanitarian aid groups have complained that Seoul was being obscure, if not partial, in distributing the state funds and too restrictive about their trips or shipments to the North.

As for the South, the bottom line of the incumbent administration`s North Korea policy is that everything depends on progress in the North`s denuclearization.

"It is more an issue of domestic politics as there are various voices among the conservatives," Yang said.

"Whether the drive for inter-Korean dialogue moves forward or remains standstill would depend on the Red Cross talks."

(sophie@heraldm.com)



By Kim So-hyun