HUMANITARIAN FOOD AID

[Anchor Lead]

The South Korean government has offered to provide humanitarian food aid to North Korea as part of efforts to restore dialogue with the regime. The government will soon unveil the details of the project, but North Korea doesn't appear satisfied with the South Korean approach.

[Pkg]

"Humanitarian aid is not a fundamental solution. It is supplementary." This is the response all North Korean news outlets are making. This mood of dissatisfaction was delivered in a meeting between South and North Korean non-governmental organizations last week. North Korea first assessed that current inter-Korean relations are facing a serious stalemate. It insisted that the two Koreas are standing at a critical juncture, which could lead back to the past. While adding that it still has strong trust in the South Korean government, the North denounced sanctions against it, which it says limit what can be done. It also made clear that humanitarian food aid is a secondary measure that cannot end the current impasse. North Korea said that seeking dialogue with it is unreasonable, so long as sanctions against it remain in place. It also insisted that the only fundamental solution is fulfilling agreements reached between the leaders of South and North Korea, and the U.S. It gave a negative response to a scheduled visit to the Kaesong Industrial Complex by South Korean businesspeople, which was approved by the South Korean government. It called on the South not to stop at conducting facility inspections but to resume operation of the inter-Korean venture. The Unification Ministry will soon announce detailed plans regarding the food aid including the amount of aid, the items to be included, and the delivery method.