N. Korea Asks for 500,000 Tons of Fertilizer (Pyongyang Believed to Have McViegh Bomb Plans)

The Korea Times ^ | 6 Feb 2005 | Ryu Jin

[Cornpone]

South Korea has been agonizing over a recent request from North Korea for an ``unusually’’ large volume of fertilizer aid, officials in Seoul said Sunday.

According to the Korean National Red Cross (KNRC), the North’s Red Cross sent a telephone message on Jan. 13 asking for 500,000 tons of fertilizer for this spring.

It marks a large increase from the 300,000 tons that Seoul has shipped to the North every year _ 200,000 tons in the spring and the remaining 100,000 tons in the autumn _ since the historic 2000 inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang, with the exception of 2001.

South Korea has so far provided some 1.55 million tons of free fertilizer to the North, which has been relying on outside assistance since 1995 to help feed its 24 million people.

``Annual fertilizer aid toward the North has never exceeded 300,000 tons,’’ a KNRC executive told South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency. ``The one-time request for 500,000 tons, valued at about 140 billion won ($130 million), is seen as quite exceptional.’’

The requested volume represents about 40 percent of the total annual fertilizer consumption in the poverty-stricken North, according to the Korean Rural Economic Institute.

Kwon Tae-jin, an analyst in charge of the North’s agricultural economy at the research institute, said North Korea seems to have asked for the large-scale aid at a time when it needs more fertilizer but knows it cannot expect enough international assistance.

A government official hinted that South Korea has been agonizing over the North’s request for more than three weeks, not knowing how to respond to the exceptional call.

In the meantime, South Korea sent 20,000 tons of briquettes and 10,000 heaters to the North Korean border city of Kaesong, where an inter-Korean industrial complex is being built.

Officials at the Unification Ministry said 180 tons of briquettes and 400 heaters were sent in nine 25-ton trucks to Kaesong on Saturday. They said the same amount of aid will be sent to the border city on Monday and after the Lunar New Year’s holiday (Feb. 8-10) on a daily basis to ensure the aid reaches the North before winter ends.

The aid comes after Pyongyang’s request to resume South Korea’s planned provision of 20,000 tons of briquettes to Kaesong residents. North Korea asked the South last month to postpone the aid without a clear explanation.

South Korea is building the pilot industrial park for garment and other labor-intensive South Korean businesses which want to capitalize on the North’s cheap labor. North Korea has been suffering acute food and energy shortages since the late 1990s.

[hoosierham]

Don't WE already pay some kind of "protection money" to NK as a result of nuclear negotiations ? And why are we also paying millions to Palestinean terrorists ? I don't understand our gov't leaders at all.

[Chong]

Thanks for the ping. Wow..... Both of you old timers make some good points. You are not wrong in my opinion, monkeywrench.

It saddens me to no end that the people of N.K. have been reduced to this level of begging for slave wages. Not their first choice. To rub salt on the wound, the little kimchia will get a chunk of their earnings. Some SK business will surely exploit the poor already suffering people of NK and try to take advantage of their dire situation.

Ideally, it is true #13. To be realistic, the older N. Koreans who knew freedom before their capture have long been aware that the life outside is good, but helpless to do anything about it in such a closed society like NK, where children turn their parents in to the gubmint upon detecting any signs of yearning for freedom.

Yes, their worst enemy IS their own govt and they are aware of it, hence the underground movement up there begging for some help from the outside.

People want freedom and that's what fell the Berlin wall and that's what will fall the 38th eventually. Their basic needs like food had not been met for a long time anyway, and they care more about the future of their children than themselves, i.e., so many elderly NK's starved themselves, so their young could eat their fare share of the grass soup.

The economic benefits/pitfalls come after the freedom.

[Chong]

I say the heck with the "fertilizer" aid and the sunshine policy.

It's about time to stop "dancing with the kimchia" and stand firm like Bush has been. Call evil an evil.

[Cornpone]

It is so funny you mention the 'Sunshine' policy. When I was working in Korea everything was called the 'Sunshine' something...even the plans to transform the bank I was working for...KFB. Know it?

[monkeywrench]

Great answers! Thanks!

[Chong]

Yeah, Korea First Bank (Jae Ill En Hang), which is now being sought out by some 'imperialist' business. It used to be called something else before, can't remember, though.

The word sunshine is so innocent in its meaning and yet, it's become a somewhat sinister word, at least to me. Sounds so Utopian for one thing and communistic. (The Sun shines on everyone! Everyone can equally starve now!!) Argh.

[Chong]

Thank YOU, FRiend. :-)

[Chong]

What? A Korean thread and no dog-eating joke? Well!!!
(My furbabies say thank you, woof woof.)

[Cornpone]

I was going to stay away from that. I got along really well with everyone in Korea but it took some time before some of the younger college students at Uncle Cho's would accept me. They really didn't believe an American could really appreciate Korean food and culture the way I seemed to. So, one of the guys that ended up being a very good friend challenged me to eat anything Koreans would eat. Of course he didn't know I came from a part of America where we also ate things most people wouldn't eat (possum, snails, snake, eels, squirrel, frogs, etc). Dog was the easy part, he also wanted me eat to silk worms with him. When he realized I was serious he finally opened up and we were friends. Of course, he wouldn't eat the dog or silk worms so we never got to that point but just being willing to do so was enough for him. I probably wouldn't have had any problem with the silk worms but if I had eaten dog I'm sure I would have been thinking about old Sandy the whole time. I don't think that would have gone down well;-)

[Chong]

I probably ate dog meat once in my lifetime unknowlingly. My grandfather loved me more than others, for I was the youngest baby in the whole clan.

Our neighbors would bring "special" food to us sometimes and of course it went to the Patriarch first and he would always call me to his room to share the special treat.

Well........ After I ate a little bit of soup and came out that night, my sisters and brothers were waiting out there to greet me. They all seemed so wickedly happy to tease me about something, but I didn't know at the time. Now I know.

As for the dare from your Korean friends, LOL!!! I can tell they like you a lot.

[Chong]

Your old Sandy,
My old Bubba Boy,
The heart thieves.

[patriot_wes]

"It's widely known that Kim is trying to develop a warhead capable of delivering 500,000 tons of fertilizer. He's also trying to grow nuclear power plants"

I tried growing chickens once........

[endthematrix]

S. Korea starts delivering of fertilizer to North
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/asiapacific/detail.asp?GRP=C&id=62765