Seoul: South Korea plans to renew its
offer to give aid to North Korea if the impoverished communist
country gives up its nuclear ambitions, the president`s office
said on Friday, a day after the North freed a South Korean worker
detained for months.
The North`s move, which came a week after Pyongyang
released two US journalists following a visit by former
President Bill Clinton, could help improve relations between
the two Koreas that were further strained by the North`s
recent nuclear and missile tests.
Bilateral ties began deteriorating when pro-US,
conservative President Lee Myung-bak took office early last
year with a tougher stance on the North. Pyongyang responded
by cutting most ties or curtailing key joint projects except
for a joint industrial complex in a border town.
Lee plans to reiterate his commitment to assisting
North Korea`s economy, infrastructure and other fields if
"North Korea abandons its nuclear" programme, Lee`s office
said today.
Lee will also make a wide-range of proposals to help
establish peace on the divided peninsula, his office said
without elaborating. The Korean war ended in a 1953 cease-fire
that has never been replaced with a peace treaty, leaving the
two Koreas technically at war.
Bureau Report
