N. Korea demands S. Korean aid during Red Cross talks

(With map) TOKYO, Oct 27 (KUNA) -- North Korea demanded 500,000 tons of rice and 300, 000 tons of fertilizer in humanitarian aid from South Korea in return for concessions over reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, according to South Korea's news pool report Wednesday. South Korean Red Cross delegates told their North Korean counterparts here that their organization had no power to approve such massive aid, a South Korean official involved in the talks told reporters in Seoul. The demand was made during the second day of the Koreas' Red Cross talks. The North asked on Tuesday that the sides increase "humanitarian cooperation projects" as a way to expand chances for families separated by the Korean War to be reunited. The talks in the North Korean border town of Kaesong came ahead of the first family reunions in a year at the Mount Kumgang resort in eastern North Korea from Saturday to next Friday, a sign of easing tension on the peninsula.
More than 80,000 South Koreans are waiting for a chance to be reunited with their loved ones left in the North after the 1950-53 war ended in a truce. About 20,800 Koreans have been reunited since 2000, when the countries' governments held their first summit. South Korea demanded during the two-day talks in Kaesong that the reunions be held at least nine times each year. The South Korean officials said North Korean delegates "tied the reunion issue to rice and fertilizer aid." South Korea stopped sending massive food aid to North Korea after President Lee Myung-bak took office in early 2008 with a pledge to link such assistance to progress in Pyongyang's denuclearization efforts. The relations between the divided countries hit the lowest point in years when the South condemned the North in May for the sinking of one of its warships late March. 46 sailors died in the sinking that the North denies any role in. South Korea shipped 300,000-400,000 tons of rice to North Korea annually before Lee, a conservative, took over. The South this week is sending a shipment of 5,000 tons of rice to the North in flood aid through the Red Cross channel. The North Korean Red Cross is also demanding that the South resume its cross-border tours to Mount Kumgang, where a South Korean tourist was shot to death in 2008 after apparently wandering into a restricted zone.
The tours immediately ground to a halt. North Korea says it has taken every measure to account for the shooting and guarantee safety, while the South calls for a renewed on-site probe and an array of tangible security measures. The tours were long seen as a symbol of inter-Korean reconciliation and won Pyongyang millions of US dollars every year until 2008. On Wednesday, the North renewed its demand that the two governments quickly hold dialogue on ways to revive the cross-border tourism project. (end) mk.gta KUNA 271338 Oct 10NNNN