Scale of yearly Chinese unconditional aid to N.Korea unveiled

Scale of yearly Chinese unconditional aid to N.Korea unveiled. June. 24, 2012 23:44. mungchii@donga.com.

China has provided North Korea with 100,000 tons of food, half a million tons of oil, and goods worth 20 million U.S. dollars as requested by the North yearly, informed sources in China said Sunday.

This is regular assistance separate from relief supplies that China sends in the event of disaster in the North or free aid given when a Chinese leader visits Pyongyang.

That China sends regular shipments of free aid to the North is well known, but the scale and content of the assistance had never been made public before.

“The Chinese Commerce Ministry and the North Korean government usually discusses the items, volume and timing of free aid every year, but Beijing generally has been providing 100,000 tons of food, half a million tons of oil, and goods worth 20 million dollars as demanded by Pyongyang in a flexible way,” one source said.

That is, the volume of China`s free aid to the North has been slightly adjusted yearly, with Beijing providing 90,000 tons of food and half a million tons of oil last year.

An informed source on North Korean affairs said, “Regular assistance is pure aid that doesn`t entail conditions such as long-term loans or barter of goods and materials.”

In 2009, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said, “For several years, we`ve provided North Korea with free aid to the extent possible. The aid is meant to enable the North Korean people to overcome economic hardship.” The ministry, however, stopped short of giving details.

This year, however, the Chinese government shipped through mid-June just 10,000 of the 100,000 tons of food aid among items of regular assistance given to Pyongyang. The North depends on China to overcome a significant portion of its food shortage.

According to statistical data on Chinese customs clearance obtained by The Dong-A Ilbo, the volume of food the North purchased significantly increased from 125,000 tons in 2008 to 356,000 tons last year.

In their analyses, informed sources on the North said China is delaying food shipments that it had customarily provided to the Stalinist country free despite this year being the first after the inauguration of the Kim Jong Un government and thus symbolically more important, as well as the North suffering serious damage due to drought in the spring food shortage.

“This seems to be China’s act of retaliation for the North`s test-firing of a long-range missile in mid-April despite Beijing’s strong demand that Pyongyang reconsider,” one source said.

China has usually pressured the North through free regular aid and administrative procedures, including delays in customs clearance in the past. For example, in the wake of Pyongyang`s second nuclear crisis in 2002, when the North unveiled its highly enriched uranium program, China shut off its oil pipeline to the North for three days in 2003 citing facility repair.

Another source said, “The shutdown of the oil pipeline led to serious consequences at the time, with North Korean industry reeling from the aftereffects for more than a year,” adding, “Beijing can halt oil supply and inflict a direct blow to North Korean industry. China`s foot-dragging on food aid to the North is meant to send Pyongyang the message that Beijing could use food as a warning measure first instead of an extreme warning.”

Still another informed source on the North said, “In late February, North Korea and China agreed that Beijing would ship 220,000 tons of corn by April 14, the eve of the Day of the Sun (the birthday of North Korea founder Kim Il Sung), but the shipment was completed around April 20 due to delays.”

Beijing pledged its largest package of free aid to Pyongyang in late February after the former was heartened by the North`s move to return to the six-way nuclear talks early this year. But the Stalinist state angered China again by announcing that it would test-fire a long-range missile March 16 and conducting the launch April 13 despite Beijing’s strong objection.