By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
The government proposed inter-Korean dialogue on the provision of 50,000 tons of corn to North Korea in aid but has yet to receive an answer, Unification Minister Kim Ha-joong said Wednesday.
Kim said Seoul is still waiting for a ``positive'' response and will consider sending the aid to the Stalinist state through international organizations if Pyongyang shows no signs of responding to the offer.
``We offered to talk to North Korea via the inter-Korean Red Cross channel about four weeks ago but it has not clarified its stance yet. We don't have a clue why but we are ready to provide the promised aid,'' Kim said in his first press conference since his inauguration on March 12.
The Roh Moo-hyun government pledged to send the aid late last year but global grain price hikes hindered the offer, he said.
One ton of corn was priced at $350 when the assistance was promised but now costs $420.
After the conservative Lee Myung-bak administration vowed a tougher line toward the North, Pyongyang began to use harsher rhetoric from March, and inter-Korean relations turned sour.
``Considering the North faces a worsening food situation, Seoul decided to resume talks on the aid, despite Pyongyang's criticism of us,'' the minister said.
The South will provide the promised amount of aid regardless of the current corn price out of humanitarian concerns, he added.
Reiterating that Seoul is willing to implement the offer, Kim expressed hope for a positive and prompt response to the dialogue proposal.
The government will wait for Pyongyang's answer for the time being but it will consider giving the aid through international groups such as the World Food Program (WFP) if the North keeps silent, he said.
The WFP is expected to conduct an inspection of the food situation this month and a decision will be made after the results are released, the minister added.
Amid widespread reports of food shortages in the impoverished North, civic groups have called for the immediate delivery of food aid.
The North, which so far has not officially asked for help, said it produced about four million tons of crops last year ― 1.2 million tons less than it needs. It has claimed no deaths from hunger.
Regarding the suspended reunion of displaced family members, the minister said the government will try to make progress because it is aware of the urgency.
In the ninth South-North Red Cross conference last December, the two Koreas agreed to hold reunions for 400 separated families annually through face-to-face meetings and video contact to mark the June 15 Joint Declaration. However, since then no inter-Korean dialogue has taken place.