N.KOREA REJECTS S.KOREA'S AID

[Anchor Lead]

It has been found that North Korea has rejected the South Korean government's rice aid. Pyongyang's response is believed to be an expression of protest against the joint military drills of South Korea and the U.S., scheduled for next month.

[Pkg]

Last month, the South Korean government decided to provide 50,000 tons of rice aid worth 120 billion won to North Korea. Seoul asked the World Food Programme to take care of transportation and distribution of rice. The World Food Programme has contacted the North on multiple occasions via its Pyongyang office to discuss when and how to deliver the rice. However, things went sour in recent days. During the recent working-level talks, the North said it does not want food aid from the South.

[Soundbite] KIM EUN-HAN(DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON OF UNIFICATION MINISTRY) : "During the recent working-level discussions between the WFP and North Korea, the North expressed its refusal."

South Korea's Ministry of Unification has demanded an official explanation from Pyongyang and decided to suspend the procedure for rice delivery until the North clarifies its stance. A Unification Ministry official said the apparent reason of Pyongyang's response is the upcoming South Korea-U.S. joint military exercise. On July 16, Pyongyang said if the military drills do take place, they might affect the working-level negotiations between North Korea and the United States. This time around, it took issue with humanitarian aid.

[Soundbite] KIM YONG-HYUN(PROFESSOR, DONGGUK UNIVERSITY) : "This can be viewed as North Korea's strategy to focus on the suspension of South Korea-U.S. military exercises while pushing rice aid and inter-Korean exchanges down its priority list."

Pyongyang insists that the leaders of North Korea and the U.S. had agreed to suspend joint military drills. It is now trying to further pressure Washington by rejecting rice aid in order to obtain a security guarantee for its regime.