By Kim Young-jin
More money has been earmarked for inter-Korean cooperation this year, sources said Thursday.
Amid expectations that the incoming Park Geun-hye administration will attempt to rekindle dialogue with Pyongyang, sources at the unification ministry said the 2013 budget allocates 1.09 trillion won ($1.02 billion) for the government’s inter-Korean cooperation fund, up from some 1 trillion won in 2012.
In addition, the Unification Ministry’s budget would be increased by 4.4 percent to 222.2 billion won.
Park has vowed to take a more moderate approach on the North, after consensus built that the incumbent Lee Myung-bak administration’s approach of reciprocation did little to advance ties.
Seoul has mostly maintained strict sanctions banning cross-border engagement since Pyongyang waged two deadly attacks in 2010. It has allowed a handful of civilian groups to deliver aid such as flour since 2011, however.
The increased budget could pave the way for efforts pledged by Park on the campaign trail, such as those to resume reunions of families separated by the Korean War (1950-53). Only two such sessions were held under the Lee administration.
Funds could be used to spur business cooperation such as South Korean firms that operate in the joint Gaeseong Industrial Complex in the North, observers said.
Saying neither a hard line nor unconditional engagement has worked, Park positions herself between the poles. The conservative proposes that the two Koreas build “cooperation centers” in each other’s capital to build up trust on the Korean Peninsula and says she would meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un if it would have tangible results.
On humanitarian aid, she says large-scale aid depends on the North’s denuclearization steps but would approve smaller packages targeting infants and children while working for more transparency to ensure that deliveries reach the needy.