By Kim Young-jin
Pyongyang is apparently balking at humanitarian assistance from South Korean NGOs due to monitoring measures implemented by Seoul, aid workers said Monday.
Seoul last year lifted a ban on such aid, levied after the deadly Yeonpyeong Island shelling in 2010, but demanded stricter monitoring to ensure successful delivery to the intended recipients.
“The North Korean authorities only want aid that is pure,” one aid official said on condition of anonymity in remarks that were echoed by other groups. “It means they won’t take it with conditions attached.”
Local groups last year delivered almost 3,000 tons of flour as well as other aid to the North after the bilateral sanctions were loosened. Groups sending flour were given access to make sure their deliveries had reached their destinations.
Suspicions abound that food aid to the North is often diverted to the military or stockpiled.
The North’s rejection of aid was the latest in a bout of tough talking between the sides as regional players search for ways to ease tensions on the peninsula and resume negotiations over Pyongyang’s nuclear program.
The Stalinist state ― under the leadership of new leader Kim Jong-un ― recently agreed to shut down its uranium enrichment program among other steps in return for 240,000 tons of nutritional assistance, a deal said to open the door for the resumption of six-party talks.
Despite this, it has cranked up its rhetoric against the Lee Myung-bak administration, in what analysts say is the North’s usual tactics of seeking talks with Washington to the exclusion of Seoul and attempting to meddle in the South’s domestic politics.
Washington wants the North to improve ties with the South before broader negotiations resume. The six-party denuclearization talks which also include Japan, Russia and China have been stalled since the North walked away in 2009.
Seoul has responded to the North’s rhetoric offensive by reiterating its vow to wage a strong response to any future provocation until the North “completely surrenders.”
The stronger aid monitoring conditions, according to officials, required the North to complete detailed reports before and after delivery and allow the groups to make site visits to ensure it was provided to those who really need it.
Tension has dominated inter-Korean relations since 2008, when Lee took office with a tough stance on the North’s nuclear program and it worsened with Pyongyang’s two deadly attacks in 2010.
The strained ties have continued under Kim Jong-un, who was installed after the death of his father Kim Jong-il in December. After the announcement of his demise, Seoul chose not to send an official condolence delegation across the border, infuriating the new regime.
Despite the reported rejection of the aid, one official said the groups would continue to efforts to help North Koreans through consultations with authorities there.