Korea, US to discuss North Korea food aid as leverage

People wait in line in front of a food stand in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang early morning Oct. 11, 2010. Reuters-Yonhap

By Kim Yoo-chul

U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun plans to visit South Korea for three days later next week for talks on how to advance nuclear disarmament negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang, a Cheong Wa Dae official said Thursday.

In his meeting with senior officials Biegun will also discuss resuming a program for humanitarian assistance to the impoverished North.

“The presidential office can only confirm that Biegun will visit Seoul soon,” the official said. He added that the special representative will possibly meet with presidential National Security Office (NSO) chief Chung Eui-yong.

Biegun's visit comes as President Moon Jae-in is seeking to keep the nuclear disarmament talks on track by asking the U.S. to allow limited sanctions relief on products that affect the everyday lives of North Koreans.

“It's highly likely either the foreign ministry or unification ministry will be involved in the process as sanctions still remain in place. If they are given a chance, humanitarian relief organizations will handle the delivery of assistance. Details will be fixed soon,” a government official told The Korea Times.

During a recent summit with Moon in Washington, D.C., U.S. President Donald Trump said they discussed “certain humanitarian things” such as the possibility of South Korea sending food aid to the North.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with the head of the U.N. food agency recently and discussed the provision of food aid to children and disaster-affected citizens in the North.

In February this year, Kim Song, North Korea's top envoy to the United Nations, officially requested major aid, claiming his country would suffer a shortage by the end of the year. An estimated 11 million people or about 40 percent of the population are already undernourished with one in five children's growth stunted due to chronic malnutrition.

Seoul decided in 2017 to provide up to $8 million worth of humanitarian aid to North Korea via international organizations, but this was put on hold as the sanctions included tough restrictions on banking transactions. This apparently impeded the delivery of humanitarian goods.

Other than these issues, Biegun is expected to discuss North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He will be briefed on President Moon's meeting with Russian security chief Nikolai Patrushev which took place just hours before the Kim-Putin summit.

Kim Kyung-min, a politics professor at Seoul's Hanyang University, said resuming humanitarian assistance to “the neediest of North Koreans” was the “right thing to do.” But skepticism is rising as to whether this goodwill gesture to the North Korean leadership will help facilitate the nuclear dialogue.

Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies, said the resumption of humanitarian aid programs is unlikely to affect the talks.

The second Trump-Kim summit in Hanoi in February this year ended in an embarrassing failure after Washington refused North Korea's request for certain sanctions relief and a “step-by-step” approach to denuclearization.

A Cheong Wa Dae official declined to confirm that Biegun's planned visit was aimed at settling on key topics ahead of U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton's planned visit here in May.