Was There a Backroom Deal with North Korea?

Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung, who returned Friday from inter-Korean ministerial talks, said, “We agreed in principle to provide the North with 400,000 tons of rice and 300,000 tons of fertilizer.” That raised suspicions of a behind-the-scenes agreement with North Korea. Lee tried to contain the fallout by saying it wasn’t an agreement but North Korea’s request, but the comments failed to quell lingering suspicions.
The South Korean government had proposed the ministerial talks to North Korea even before the six-party nuclear talks produced an agreement. At the time, South Korea’s vice unification minister said, “We were going to hold ministerial talks even if the six-party talks fail.” Even then, it looked almost certain that the ministerial talks would simply become a venue to arrange rice and fertilizer aid to North Korea. Questions arose why South Korea was so anxious to give the aid to North Korea before it could be confirmed whether the North would implement the Beijing agreement. Seoul then gave assurances that the aid would be linked to North Korea’s progress in fulfilling the agreements of the six-party nuclear talks.
In fact, the joint statement produced by the latest round of ministerial talks makes no mention of rice and fertilizer aid. Follow-up talks with the North to discuss specific aid packages under the six-party agreement were deliberately scheduled after April 13, the first deadline for North Korea to implement the initial steps to dismantling its nuclear program. That gives other countries the choice to decide depending on Pyongyang’s performance.
From the outside, it looks like the South Korean government lived up to its promise. But less than a day after the talks ended, Lee specifically said the two sides “agreed” on 400,000 tons of rice and 300,000 tons of fertilizer. The comment embarrassed officials, prompting one to say nervously, “I thought we were only going to reveal the amount the North had requested.” It appears that the minister let slip what was supposed to be a classified agreement.
It is only natural to suspect that Seoul had already pledged rice and fertilizer aid to North Korea but withheld the fact from the South Korean public. It was strange, after all, that North Korea, which had been demanding talks about aid packages in March, put up no resistance to Seoul’s request to postpone them until after the April 13 deadline. The amount of rice and fertilizer North Korea is said to have asked for is smaller than in previous years. That’s why people are predicting there will be a second agreement on rice and fertilizer shipments in the near future.
A price will have to be paid and sacrifices made to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear program. The South Korean public knows this. But if the governments of the two Koreas make back room deals and try to fool the public, then the public will have to question the true motive of the South Korean government.