S. Korea seeks budget cuts for N. Korea denuclearization efforts

SEOUL, July 13 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's foreign ministry has asked to dedicate a smaller portion of its budget next year to efforts to resolve the standoff over North Korea's nuclear program, a lawmaker said Wednesday, as diplomacy with the North has come to a standstill.
Multilateral negotiations aimed at dismantling the North's nuclear program, involving the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan, have been stalled since late 2008. The North claims to be willing to return to the talks without preconditions, but South Korea and the U.S. say Pyongyang must show its sincerity in denuclearizing before resumption of the stalled talks could take place.
The ministry sought 6.7 billion won (US$6.3 million) for its 2012 budget on North Korea's nuclear program, down 23.3 percent from this year, according to a report released by Rep. Park Joo-sun of the main opposition Democratic Party.
Park, a member of the National Assembly's foreign affairs committee, said he obtained the report from the ministry.
Out of the proposed budget for dismantling the North's nuclear program, the ministry asked the National Assembly to significantly cut spending to monitor the denuclearization process in the North to 430 million won from 780 million won.
Spending on diplomats' activities related to the six-party talks was also frozen, according to the report.
As for its total budget for next year, the ministry is seeking 1.82 trillion won, a 4.7 percent increase from this year, the report said.
The ministry sought to sharply increase its budget for multilateral cooperation to 46.3 billion won next year as it is preparing to host the Nuclear Security Summit in March 2012.
The proposed budget for U.N. peacekeeping operations and financial contributions to international organizations rose 6 percent to 527.5 billion won, as South Korea pledged more aid to the international community, the report showed.
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