(2nd LD) Selective gov`t funding for N. Korea aid groups causes division, discontent

(ATTN: RECASTS headline, lead, UPDATES with quotes from selected groups, signs of rift)
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, Aug. 3 (Yonhap) -- South Korea authorized state funding for 10 North Korea
aid organizations Monday, resuming humanitarian operations that had been frozen
since the North conducted nuclear and rocket tests.
But the rare softening move toward Pyongyang drew mixed reactions among aid
organizations in Seoul, as 3.57 billion won (US$2.92 million) worth of funding
will go to less than a quarter of 47 applicants. Some called the selection
"arbitrary" and vowed to boycott it.
"The government selected projects that are aimed at helping disadvantaged groups
like toddlers and infants, mothers and the disabled on grounds that they
contribute to the people's livelihoods, their urgency and effects," the
Unification Ministry said in a statement.
The funding shrank considerably from last year, when the ministry spent more than
10 billion won for 40 aid groups. Spending cuts in other North Korea projects
were also evident, as South Korea executed only 2.8 percent of its yearly budget
for economic and humanitarian aid to North Korea during the first half of this
year, or 42.42 billion won out of 1.5 trillion won. Seoul officials cite
international sanctions over North Korea's nuclear and missile activity and the
protracted stalemate in inter-Korean relations as reasons for the hardening aid
policy.
An umbrella group of 56 Seoul-based aid organizations, the Korea NGO Council for
Cooperation with North Korea, called an emergency meeting and vowed not to accept
the funding unless its selection criteria is fully explained. Secretive selection
only fuels internal rifts and rivalry, it said.
"This decision will only drive our aid projects, which continued cooperatively
for nearly 10 years, to division and competition. I wonder if this arbitrary
selection is a way of taming non-governmental organizations," Park Hyun-seok from
Rose Club Korea, a Christian group focused on medical aid, said in an emergency
meeting between aid groups. Rose Club lost its bid for funding.
But signs of a rift emerged among the aid organizations, as some cited the
urgency of their stalled missions in the North. Kang Young-shik of the Korean
Sharing Movement, which emerged as one of the major beneficiaries with 540
million won in funding, said his organization will accept the money, as the
umbrella organization has no binding force over its members.
"It is for each organization to decide. And we believe this fund should be
released if there isn't more expected anytime soon," Kang said.
In a unanimous call, the aid groups urged the government to lift a ban on
humanitarian aid shipments and to stop monitoring trips to North Korea, actions
put in place after the North's nuclear test in May. The restrictions have
prevented not only aid from state coffers, but also private donations, from
reaching North Koreans.
Sue Kinsler, a Korean-American and head of the Lighthouse Foundation, which helps
orphans and the disabled in the North, said the living conditions there have
notably deteriorated, with bread factories running short of flour and children
wearing the same clothes her organization sent last year.
"We also wanted to bring underwear and some clothes for the children, but we were
told those items are not allowed," Kinsler, who visited North Korea last week
with 18 tons of flour, soybeans, sugar and vegetable oil, said. "I saw with my
eyes they are experiencing serious food shortages in the midst of the
international sanctions."
Kim Nam-sik, director general of the ministry's Inter-Korean Exchanges and
Cooperation Bureau who attended the aid groups' meeting, said the government will
consider expanding humanitarian aid and cross-border visits, but its efforts are
limited by larger international circumstances. While U.N. financial and other
sanctions are in place to curb the communist state's nuclear and missile
activity, the government cannot go against the international trend, he said.
"The government understands the difficulties that aid organizations are faced
with and will try to expand its funding and allow more visits to North Korea. But
I must say there are restrictions to such efforts, with the U.N. sanctions. The
situation cannot be the same after a nuclear test," Kim said.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)