South to Resume Humanitarian Aid to North
By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
South Korea is likely to resume assistance to North Korea soon by funding local civic groups through the so-called inter-Korean cooperation fund, according to officials at the Ministry of Unification, Sunday.
Chilly relations between the two Koreas have suspended government-level aid to the isolated state since the inauguration of the South's Lee Myung-bak administration in February last year.
``Government officials will meet this week to make a decision on the distribution of the fund to civic organizations even though its scale will be decreased,'' a ministry official told The Korea Times.
Last year, the Lee administration supported civic groups with 10 billion won (about $8 million) for their aid operations.
The official continued, ``Related procedures are almost done. The discussion will likely result in a `yes.'''
The meeting will be attended by Unification Minister Hyun In-taek and vice ministers from related government agencies.
About 10 organizations are expected to get benefits from the funding program for their projects to provide social minorities in North Korea with emergency aid.
Thirty other groups also applied for funding, but the government will take time to further review those programs, as well as to continue monitoring inter-Korean relations.
``The amount of funding and the number of beneficiaries are subject to change,'' another ministry official said.
The government received applications between February and March this year, originally planning to distribute the money from April.
But North Korea's provocative acts postponed the aid.
The secretive state detained a South Korean worker in a joint industrial area for alleged slandering on March 30, and launched a long-range rocket on April 5, despite repeated warnings from the international community as well as South Korea.
Moreover, Pyongyang conducted a second nuclear test on May 25, which worsened the public opinion here toward aid programs to North Korea.
Some observers of the situation say that the move to resume the funding program comes from the government's principle that it will continue humanitarian aid regardless of political factors.
Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung reiterated that humanitarian assistance to North Korea will go on since it has nothing to do with political wrangling.
However, the observers said that it is too early to judge whether South Korea is poised to amend its North Korea policy because of the tension triggered by the nuclear tests and the detainee issue.
The 40-year-old employee has been detained in the North for almost four months, given no chance to meet with South Korean officials.