While some will counsel to take this with a grain of salt, I think it is illustrative of north Korea diplomacy (or more perhaps appropriately "blackmail diplomacy") and I would not be surprised if it were true (we will not know until after unification and we can examine the archives whether the decision to sink the Cheonan was in response to the ROK denying to pay extortion money to the north). But I think we can believe that the north asked for the resources as payment for a summit meeting.
V/R
Dave
Dave
Cheonan Sinking 'Was Revenge for Refusing Aid'
North Korea sank the Navy corvette Cheonan and shelled Yeonpyeong Island in 2010 in protest against Seoul's refusal to provide economic aid, a senior Cheong Wa Dae official here claimed Wednesday.
The official told reporters the Lee Myung-bak administration attempted several times to arrange a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il but was unwilling to pay the price the North demanded. Incensed, the North then sank the ship and shelled the island.
The claims from the outgoing administration came a day after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un struck an unusually conciliatory note in his New Year's address and are being read as a warning for the incoming government not to be taken in by his rhetoric.
◆ What Price a Summit?
"The Lee administration has met several times with North Korean officials to discuss a summit," the official said. "But North Korea demanded tens of thousands of tons of rice and fertilizer in exchange and we refused."
North Korea wanted some US$500-600 million worth of rice and fertilizer aid, he said. The official did not say whether Pyongyang also wanted cash.
"The watershed moment in inter-Korean relations was the sinking of the Cheonan in March of 2010," he said. Talks were held even after the sinking, but North Korea refused to admit it was behind the attack, the official added.
◆ Show of Protest
The official told reporters the Lee Myung-bak administration attempted several times to arrange a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il but was unwilling to pay the price the North demanded. Incensed, the North then sank the ship and shelled the island.
The claims from the outgoing administration came a day after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un struck an unusually conciliatory note in his New Year's address and are being read as a warning for the incoming government not to be taken in by his rhetoric.
◆ What Price a Summit?
"The Lee administration has met several times with North Korean officials to discuss a summit," the official said. "But North Korea demanded tens of thousands of tons of rice and fertilizer in exchange and we refused."
North Korea wanted some US$500-600 million worth of rice and fertilizer aid, he said. The official did not say whether Pyongyang also wanted cash.
"The watershed moment in inter-Korean relations was the sinking of the Cheonan in March of 2010," he said. Talks were held even after the sinking, but North Korea refused to admit it was behind the attack, the official added.
◆ Show of Protest
(Continued at the link below)
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