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S.Korea rules out immediate aid to DPRK

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-09-29 00:25

SEOUL: South Korea on Monday ruled out the possibility of providing any new economic aid to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), according to the country's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae.

"The government is not considering any massive food or fertilizer assistance to North Korea (DPRK) at this moment," Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Park Sun-kyoo  said in a press release.

Cheong Wa Dae's remarks came after Pyongyang asked Seoul on Sunday whether it is willing to extend a good-will measure in response to ongoing reunions of separated families.

Related readings:  Chinese Premier to visit DPRK early October  US biggest threat to DPRK: newspaper  S Korea to host G-20 summit in 2010  S.Korea not against US-DPRK dialogue

The DPRK Red Cross chief Jang Jae-on said during a meeting on Sunday with his South Korean counterpart Yoo Chong-ha that Pyongyang has extended its good will to resume family reunions, and asked if South Korea would do the same in return, according to local media.

In response, Yoo said the South Korean Red Cross will do whatever it can within its authority, such as providing medicines to the elderly and children and offering aid to the Red Cross hospital in the DPRK, but other "good will" measures should be agreed by the two governments.

South Korea has provided rice and fertilizers to the DPRK under a "Sunshine Policy" adopted during terms of former Presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun. But the conservative Lee Myung-bak government halted the aid as it came to power last year, taking a tougher approach on the DPRK's nuclear issue.