By Lee Tae-hoon
Leaders of opposition parties raised a collective voice Wednesday, calling for the government to send surplus rice to Pyongyang as part of its relief package.
“We must help both farmers in South Korea and our hunger-stricken brethren in North Korea by offering our excess rice to Pyongyang,” Rep. Park Jie-won, acting chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), said in a joint forum of four parties at the National Assembly.
Park noted that the government holds some 1.4 million tons of rice in reserves, twice more than necessary for emergency situations and that the amount is expected to jump to around 2 million tons after this year’s harvest season.
On Tuesday, the government announced a plan to buy up all rice that exceeds the country's estimated annual consumption of 4.26 million tons to check a further drop in prices.
The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MIFAFF) forecasts this year’s surplus will range from 400,000 to 500,000 tons. The price for an 80 kilogram sack of rice fell from an average 142,852 won ($119) in 2009 to 132,500 won as of Aug. 15.
Lee Jung-hee, chairwoman of the minor opposition Labor Democratic Party, admonished the government’s move to exclude rice from its relief aid to the impoverished communist regime.
At a time when the price of flour is shooting up while rice stocks are overflowing, the Ministry of Unification plans to send instant noodles and biscuits made from imported wheat to the North through the Red Cross, she said.
“It is a pity that this nation’s government is so narrow-minded,” she added.
In a press conference Tuesday, MIFAFF Minister Yoo Jeong-bok reaffirmed the Lee administration’s stance on rice assistance, saying “The government is not considering providing surplus rice to North Korea at the moment.”
Roh Hoi-chan, leader of the New Progressive Party, and Lee Jae-joung, chief of the People’s Participation Party, urged the Lee Myung-bak administration to immediately send half a million tons of rice to reach a breakthrough in inter-Korean ties and in the stalled six-party talks over the North’s nuclear programs.
“The government must try to normalize inter-Korean relations and the six-way talks through the resumption of rice aid,” he said.
Seoul sent 300,000 to 500,000 tons of rice to Pyongyang annually between 2000 and 2007 under the previous liberal administrations, but has stopped all deliveries since President Lee took office in early 2008.