Conciliatory gestures

North should accept food aid, allow visit to Gaeseong complex

The government has decided to donate $8 million to international agencies to provide food aid to North Korea. It has also decided to allow a group of South Korean businesspeople to visit a closed inter-Korean industrial park in Gaeseong.

The decisions are aimed at breaking the deadlock in stalled dialogue for inter-Korean cooperation and reconciliation as well as for denuclearization of the North. They are conciliatory gestures by the Moon Jaein government to encourage Pyongyang to return to negotiations.

The donation came after the South floated the idea of offering humanitarian aid to Pyongyang, as the North is expected to suffer a shortage of 1.36 million tons of grain. Such aid should not be affected by the geopolitical situation on the Korean Peninsula; therefore, the Moon administration made the right decision.

However, it was, to a certain degree, a difficult one, given the North's repeated test-firing of short-range missiles. These military provocations over the past two months came after its leader Kim Jongun's second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump broke down in Hanoi in late February.

Amid growing skepticism over the true intention of Kim's commitment to denuclearization, providing food aid faces mounting challenges. This is feared to send the wrong signal to Pyongyang because Seoul could give the impression that it has caved in to the North's saber-rattling.

Thus, the government should be careful in making sure that the food aid is used purely for humanitarian purposes. It also needs to build a consensus in order to gain support from the people as well as the international community.

As for the approval of a visit by businesspeople to the joint industrial park in the North Korean border city, the government stressed the importance of the applicants' right to check their production facilities there. Seoul has also made a hard decision because it had to get support from the U.S.

The Moon administration should clarify that the visit is not a prelude to the reopening of the shuttered complex amid international sanctions.

Still the problem is whether the Kim regime will accept food aid and allow the businesspeople to visit the Gaeseong complex. If Pyongyang refuses both, it would prolong the impasse in the peace process on the peninsula. In this case, the North could opt out of dialogue not only with Seoul but also Washington. No one knows how to solve this dilemma.