S. Korea Gives North an Aid Package

On the heels of its agreement to return to negotiations over its nuclear weapons, North Korea was awarded a generous aid package today by South Korea that will include 500,000 tons of rice, assistance rebuilding its mines and raw materials for shoes, clothing and soap.

The aid coincides with North Korea’s decision announced Saturday to drop its yearlong boycott of six-nation talks on nuclear dismantlement. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was due in Seoul later today to discuss the particulars with South Korean officials before the July 25 talks in Beijing.

In some of the most conciliatory language it has used in months, North Korea said Monday that it planned eventually to dismantle its nuclear weapons.

“We do not intend to possess nuclear weapons forever. If the U.S. nuclear threat to [North Korea] is removed ... not a single nuclear weapon will be needed,” said the North’s leading newspaper, Rodong Sinmun.

Nonetheless, there is much skepticism about whether North Korea is serious about dismantling its weapons. Pyongyang has gained some notoriety for manipulating its cooperation with the international community to exact humanitarian aid.

Many people question whether North Korea’s conciliatory gestures in recent days merely reflect its desperation for food and fuel.

“North Korea has no serious intention to denuclearize. They might be showing up at the six-party talks, but I think they will not be very cooperative,” said Lee Dong Bok, a former South Korean intelligence official and North Korea expert.

The latest aid package was announced after late-night negotiations between South and North Korean economic officials in Seoul. It was not a reward for the North’s cooperation in nuclear matters, but was being given out of “brotherly love and humanitarianism,” Kim Hong Jae, a spokesman for the South Korean Unification Ministry, said at a news briefing.

Before her arrival, Rice sounded a similar theme, calling the North’s situation “a humanitarian disaster” and noting that the United States recently decided to provide 50,000 tons of food aid.

She said the real issue was Pyongyang’s nuclear program.

“South Korea’s decision to respond to the miserable humanitarian situation of the North Korean people does not in any way undercut the talks,” Rice said.

Under the deal, South Korea is also supposed to accelerate development of the rail lines around Kaesong, a jointly developed industrial park just north of the demilitarized zone separating the Koreas. By supplying North Korea with raw materials for shoes, clothing and soap, Seoul will be easing shortages of consumer items that now are available only through China.

South Korea will also help the North renovate its mines in return for some of the output, such as zinc.

The South Koreans have promised a much bigger aid package with a large component of energy assistance if a deal is eventually reached on nuclear dismantlement.

The Bush administration has in the past been adamant in saying it will not succumb to nuclear blackmail by North Korea by giving Pyongyang aid for showing up at talks. However, analysts believe that Washington has begun to waiver on this principle.

“The administration looks like it is suddenly willing to provide the North Koreans with a lot of potential inducements, at least indirectly, but letting the South Koreans do a lot more,” said one Washington-based analyst who asked not to be quoted by name because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Besides the latest aid, South Korea has promised 350,000 tons of fertilizer for the year. China, which is the host of the six-party talks, also has given the North aid in return for its participation, most notably a Chinese-built glass factory under construction near Pyongyang.*

Times staff writer Sonni Efron, who is traveling with Rice, contributed to this report.