Unofficial translation

Unification Minister s Press Briefing

Good afternoon, everyone. I am delighted to meet all of you in a long time.

Yesterday marked the 100th day of the inauguration of the Lee Myung-bak administration. It has been about 80 days since I was appointed as Unification Minister. As I said on the previous occasion, I really would like to meet you more frequently. However, because of recent unfavorable developments in inter-Korean relations as well as inappropriate timing, I haven t had a chance to see you all until today.

I am well aware that lots of people hope to see me, with some of them wondering, Where can I find him? I feel really grateful to those who are showing great interest in me, even though I did not present myself as much as you expect.

This is my first briefing in my capacity as Unification Minister. Let me first briefly explain one thing which can be considered significant on one hand and insignificant on the other hand.

The South Korean government has made contacts with the North regarding the provision of corn aid for it. I would like to brief you on the recent developments concerning the matter and the government s official position on it. What I am going to tell you is the official government stance.

Since last year, the government has tried to reach the North, through the Panmunjeom communications channel of the Republic of Korea National Red Cross, to confirm their willingness to have a contact with our side concerning the provision of the corn aid which was agreed upon between the two Koreas. North Korea, however, has refused to give any clear response to it. We do not know specifically why North Korea has not clarified its position, but let me be clear on this occasion that the South Korean government is willing to have consultations with the North on the corn aid and do provide the shipment for it.

This is the official position of the government. Let me further elaborate the government s stance on the issue. North Korea made a request for corn aid from the end of last year. And we consulted and agreed with the North to deliver 50,000 tons of corn aid.

In the process of promoting the corn aid project, however, the government had difficulty securing a supply of corn due to the sharp rise in crop prices. Therefore, the aid was postponed.

Against this backdrop, the Lee Myung-bak administration took office. The new government, indeed, had intention of delivering the shipment of the corn aid from a humanitarian point of view. But the government found it hard to deliver the supply since the North kept unleashing such a harsh rhetoric toward us from late March.

Considering the North s recent dire food situation and the possibility of further aggravation of the food crisis following the spring famine period, we have made a decision to reconsider the supply of the corn aid agreed upon between the two Koreas, despite the fact that Pyongyang is still engaged in strong denouncement against us.

Judging that we first needed to sound out the North s intention before promoting the aid project, we proposed North Korea, through the communications channel of the Republic of Korea National Red Cross, to hold a contact for consultations about the corn aid. But the North has not given any clear response to it. It was about three weeks ago that we made such proposal to the North, although I cannot talk about the exact date.

Again, I would like to take this opportunity to express our willingness to provide the corn aid for North Korea, and hope to see North Korea respond favorably.

The corn price accounted for 350 dollars per ton back in last December when the South decided to offer the aid. Now it stands at 420 dollars a ton. Given this, it is hard for us to provide all 50,000 tons of the corn with the budget initially allocated for it. However, we, on a humanitarian ground, decided to provide 50,000 tons of corn as we previously agreed, regardless of the cost.

The Korean government is hoping for an immediate response from the North on our proposal and will wait for the North to express its position for the time being. However, unfortunately, if the North continues to refuse giving any response, we will also seek other ways of offering food aid through international organizations such as WFP, although we do not know exactly when it will happen.

With this, I would like to wrap up my briefing on the government s position on the corn aid, and let me take questions from now.