pyongyang Humanitarian Aid Is Price of Peace
By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter
In April 2004, a train explosion took place in Ryongchon Railway Station in Shinuju, killing more than 50 North Koreans and wounding more than a thousand. South Korea responded in various ways to help the North recover from the accident.
Pyongyang asked for rehabilitation materials and equipment as well as basic relief goods right after the tragic accident and Seoul complied with the request immediately. It was an occasion that reminded Koreans of their shared fraternity and humanity.
As exemplified by this case, the South Korean government's aid toward the North has so far been largely for humanitarianism purpose, a practice started some twelve years ago to help with the grim realities of life in the poverty-stricken country.
The Roh Moo-hyun administration, following the previous Kim Dae-jung administration has continued this the engagement policy, maintaining a position of giving humanitarian assistance in accordance with its capability and public opinion.
Cost for Peace
When assistance was first given, there was some criticism and suspicion in the South that the rice, fertilizer and other materials would fall into the hands of the North Korean army and not reach ordinary citizens.
However, such negative views have gradually been dispelled giving way to the thought that the aid should be recognized as the needed cost for peace and future reunification.
According to a survey by the National Unification Advisory Council last December, for example, a majority of 64.5 percent said that they accepted the assistance given to the North as the price they had to pay for peace.
Many mistakenly believe that the South Korean assistance toward the North originated from the Sunshine Policy. But its origins are in fact in the previous Kim Young-sam administration (1993-1998).
Kim, a political conservative who had ruled out dialogues with Pyongyang amid the first nuclear crisis, offered 150,000 tons of rice to North Korea in 1995, when the state was hit by a serious famine.
Since then, various items of aid worth some 1.16 trillion won ($1.27 billion) have been delivered to the North under such categories as general relief, agricultural rehabilitation and health and medical support as of 2006, let alone the 627 billion won worth of civilian aid.
It means that ordinary South Korean taxpayers spent about $3 per person a year toward that end in the past 12 years. People who lived in West Germany spent $52 per person annually for their brethren in East Germany in the 18 years before unification.
President Roh, who is on a historic trip to the North, has often stressed the need to maintain the assistance. ``Our assistance to the North is the cost of peace and the cost of unification.''
Changes in N. Korea
North Korea currently needs 2 million tons of food and 1 million tons of fertilizer in aid from outside. Recent government statistics showed a 20-centimeter and a 10-kilogram respective gap between the average heights and weights of youths in the South from those in the North.
In the light of such economic plight, the economic assistance has not only been a big help for North Koreans, but it has also affected their recognition of the South Korean government and the people in the South, according to surveys.
While the Roh administration has so far made continuous endeavors to enhance the substantiality and transparency of the aid toward the North, such efforts have led to improved public trust in the government policies.
In particular, the administration raised the transparency drastically through on-site monitoring and interviews with residents. ``Our primary principle is that our aid should reach those who need the help most,'' a government official said.