SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea sent its first shipment of rice aid to rival North Korea in more than two years on Monday and said it would consider holding monthly talks with Pyongyang if it was committed to denuclearization.
North Korea has expressed renewed willingness to rejoin international disarmament talks after a two-year boycott, which analysts said was an indication it was hurting badly under harsh U.N.sanctions imposed last year in response to its nuclear test.
South Korea and the United States have rejected the idea of resuming the negotiations for now, saying the North must first admit responsibility for sinking a South Korean navy ship in March that killed 46 sailors.
Pyongyang denies any involvement.
Tension has started to thaw in the last two months with the South sending food aid and construction materials to its impoverished neighbor. The two states have also held military-level talks and agreed to restart family reunions.
On Monday, a cargo ship carrying 5,000 tons of government-financed rice was scheduled to leave the port of Gunsan for the northeastern Chinese city of Dandong on the border with North Korea.
Another ship was also set to head from the port of Incheon to the Chinese city, carrying 3 million packs of instant noodles.
Last month, privately funded shipments of rice aid were trucked to the North after severe flooding hit food production in the destitute state that even in a good year falls a million tons short of what is needed to feed its 23 million people.
Foreign ministry spokesman Kim Young-sun said Seoul was willing to consider holding six-party talks on a regular basis if Pyongyang showed denuclearization commitments through action and the stalled negotiating process resumes.
He made the comment after a report said that China's chief nuclear negotiator, Wu Dawei, had proposed during trips to Japan and the United States in August and September that the six-party talks be held every month.
Washington says a resumption depends on the neighbors improving ties, and says the North must show "concrete indications" it will implement a 2005 nuclear disarmament deal.
North Korea's main newspaper Rodong Sinmun said on Monday Seoul "should refrain from deliberately laying obstacles and difficulties in the way of improving the inter-Korean relations and vitiating the atmosphere of the dialogue."
"The inter-Korean relations can never improve, should they stage madcap joint military exercises with foreign forces, block visits and contacts of pro-reunification figures and pursue the dialogue for confrontation."
South Korean media reported on Monday that the U.S. and South Korean militaries had postponed their latest drill, involving an aircraft carrier in the Yellow Sea, to avoid creating problems with China and North Korea ahead of the G20 summit on November 11-12.
The United States and South Korea have staged a series of exercises since the sinking of theCheonan corvette, saying the drills are aimed at warning North Korea.
Beijing says the drills threaten its security and regional stability, while Pyongyang has retaliated with war-like rhetoric and by firing off a barrage of artillery rounds.
source:Reuters.com
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