By Yoon Won-sup
Staff Reporter
North Korea Wednesday asked for investment-based aid at a working-group meeting of the six-party talks aimed at ending the Stalinist country's nuclear ambitions.
Seoul officials said that for the first time North Korea brought up the concept that energy aid is divided into two kinds _ investment and consumption _ during the meeting held Aug. 7-8 at the truce village of Panmunjeom.
``Consumption-based aid is, for example, heavy fuel oil and coal that is gone once used; while investment-based aid is that which helps continued production of energy, such as by mending power stations,'' South Korea's deputy nuclear negotiator Lim Sung-nam told reporters.
North Korean negotiators put the concept on the table on Tuesday and produced detailed documents on Wednesday so that other delegates could understand how the North wants the investment-type assistance.
Under the six-party talks' agreement made on Feb. 13, 2007, North Korea will receive energy assistance equivalent to 950,000 tons of heavy fuel oil in return for disabling its nuclear facilities in Yongbyon and submitting a complete list of its nuclear programs. The parties to the talks are the two Koreas, the United States, China, Russia and Japan.
Seoul said officials from the five nations were not surprised to hear the North's suggestion on investment aid because the aid type was not restricted to heavy oil in the agreement.
Lim said the North Korean negotiators included three economic exports and they showed a very professional and sincere attitude.
He added that the negotiators didn't talk about the inter-Korean summit slated for Aug. 28-30 in Pyongyang, which the presidential office announced earlier in the day.
Lim said negotiators from Seoul asked the other delegates for positive talks as inter-Korean cooperation advances to a higher level with the summit.
The meeting was held to discuss how to ship the 950,000 tons of oil or its equivalent to the North.
South Korea has already shipped 50,000 tons of heavy oil to North Korea in exchange for the North's shutdown of the Yongbyon reactor late last month under the February agreement.
A separate working group is expected to be held next week in Shenyang, China, where nuclear negotiators will discuss how to completely disable the North's nuclear facilities by the end of the year.