South Korea mulls easing ban on humanitarian visits to N. Korea

By Kim Eun-jung
SEOUL, June 26 (Yonhap) -- South Korea will consider easing a ban on humanitarian
visits to North Korea, the Unification Ministry said Friday, following an appeal
from relief workers to resume aid shipments halted after Pyongyang's rocket and
nuclear tests.
Seoul restricted non-governmental trips to North Korea after the communist
country launched a long-range rocket in early April. The restriction expanded to
humanitarian aid workers and their cargo trucks following the North's nuclear
test on May 25.
"The government understands that the aid groups are going through difficulties
with the trip ban. So we are going to consider whether to allow such assistance
and shipments of aid equipment," Chun Hae-sung, the ministry spokesman, said.
Chun was responding to an appeal from a group of 56 aid organizations a day
earlier who complained that aid shipments worth millions of dollars have been put
on hold, some having gone bad, in ports since the traffic ban. The relief workers
accused the conservative Lee Myung-bak government of connecting humanitarian aid
to political tension between the two countries.
"While some large-size equipment or materials will have to remain on hold for a
while, we will soon consider permitting shipments of urgent and essential items
to the North," Chun said.
Lee suspended rice and fertilizer aid to the North after taking office last year,
adopting a tougher stance on North Korea's nuclear program.
South Korea's government and private aid to the North during the January-May
period fell 60 percent year-on-year to US$15.18 million from $26.33 million,
according to ministry data.
Some aid groups, however, remain uncertain whether the government will take any
concrete action. For the South Korean government, resuming large-scale aid to
North Korea could contradict international trends towards pressuring the rogue
state over its nuclear test, they said.
"It is good to hear, but nothing can be sure yet. It is not likely the Lee
administration will soon resume food aid to the North, because the position has
often changed with the political crisis," an aid worker said, requesting
anonymity.
"We'll just have to wait until the government decides, but we need more action
than words to figure out the problem."
Relief workers say North Korea has grown needier after the U.N. Security Council
slapped new financial and other sanctions over its nuclear test this month.
Resolution 1874 bans North Korean weapons sales and pertinent financial
transactions to curb its missile and nuclear activity.
ejkim@yna.co.kr
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