Moon urges parties to OK food aid to North Korea
People watch a TV screen showing a live broadcast of President Moon Jae-in during a TV talk show at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, Thursday, May 9, 2019. AP-Yonhap
By Kim Yoo-chul
President Moon Jae-in urged the political parties here to reach a consensus, Thursday, and stand behind the government's plan to provide humanitarian assistance to North Korea.
“The government planned to provide food assistance to North Korea. As North Korea has launched additional missiles, this plan needs to get a consensus from the public. A meeting of the political parties is needed,” President Moon said in a televised event, “Special Talk with President Moon Jae-in,” aired to celebrate the second anniversary of his inauguration.
Earlier, North Korea launched two short-range missiles, its second such series of launches in less than a week. They occurred around 4:30 p.m. (KST) from the North's Sino-ri missile base, which is believed to house Rodong short- and medium-range ballistic missiles, Cheong Wa Dae sources told The Korea Times.
Despite these repeated provocative actions, the President said Pyongyang is advised to quickly return to denuclearization talks that have been stalled since the failed February summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un held in Hanoi, Vietnam. “The latest missile launches can be seen as the North expressing dissatisfaction after the second summit between the United States and North Korea failed to produce results,” Moon said.
“The main thing is for Washington and Pyongyang to return to negotiations as quickly as possible. If the North has something to say, then it has to clarify what it is dissatisfied with,” President Moon said.
South Korea and the United States are still analyzing the exact type of missiles involved, however, the President said it was too early to say the launches broke United Nations Security Council resolutions.
“North Korea has shown its willingness not to walk away from negotiations,” President Moon said. North Korea's Kim has said that he is open to a third summit with President Trump; but set the end of the year as a deadline for Washington to offer “mutually acceptable terms” for this.
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and World Food Program's Rapid Food Security Assessment released recently noted that the North's “aggregate 2018/19 food crop production is estimated at 4.9 million metric tons, which is the lowest since the 2008/09 season.”
In 2017, Ministry of Unification decided to provide up to $8 million worth of humanitarian aid to North Korea, but this was put on hold due to the latter's missile and nuclear weapon tests that year.
Visiting U.S. envoy Stephen Biegun will hold a meeting with presidential National Security Office chief Chung Eui-yong and his deputy Kim Hyun-chong, today, for consultations on ways to break the impasse in the denuclearization talks.