By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter

North Korea has become more reliant on China for economic assistance year by year, posing a threat to the unification of the Korean Peninsula, a lawmaker said Friday.

Rep. Song Young-sun of the Pro-Park Geun-hye Coalition, which has eight seats in the 299-member National Assembly, called on the unification ministry to find a role to play to prevent the trend from continuing.

``The needy North Korean economy has heavily depended on China for economic assistance over the past decade. And the role of China has increased in exploiting mineral resources in the North as well,'' Song said during an interpellation session at the National Assembly.

Although the North is endowed with rich natural resources such as magnetite, gold, silver, iron and nickel, experts said, poor technology and investment makes it difficult for the impoverished economy to benefit.

A unification ministry report said that the ratio of North Korea's dependency on China in terms of economic assistance was 20.4 percent in 1999 and it soared to some 50 percent last year.

Some liberal party lawmakers have argued that President Lee Myung-bak choosing to link economic assistance to North Korea's nuclear programs is responsible for the North's deepening reliance on China.

``North Korea's increasing dependency on China will not only weaken the role that South Korea can play in inter-Korean relations but also eventually make it difficult for the South to build infrastructure for unification,'' Song said.

The lawmaker called on the government to consider promoting inter-Korean cooperation in mineral resources as well as helping the North build infrastructure so it no longer has to rely so heavily on the Chinese economy.

hkang@koreatimes.co.kr