SKorea dangles rice aid to halt North's reactor

Seoul, Apr 19: South Korea will urge North Korea today to start shutting down its nuclear reactor, using massive rice aid for its impoverished neighbour as an incentive.

The North failed to meet last Saturday's deadline set in a disarmament deal reached at six-way talks in February to start closing its reactor, the source of plutonium for nuclear bombs.

''The quick implementation of the Feb. 13 agreement is a short cut to draw firm international support for inter-Korean economic cooperation,'' the head of the South's delegation was to tell his hosts at economic talks in Pyongyang, according to an advance text.

Vice Finance Minister Chin Dong-soo had yet to speak, pool reports from the meeting said. Yonhap news agency said the North had delayed the formal start of talks without giving a reason.

Officials from South Korea, which was aiming to announce the resumption of rice aid at the meeting, have said Seoul may delay the move until North Korea starts the shutdown and invites UN nuclear inspectors back into the secretive state.

South Korea suspended its regular rice aid -- typically 500,000 tonnes a year -- in July after Pyongyang defied international warnings and test-fired missiles. The North conducted its first nuclear test some three months later.

Even with a good rice harvest North Korea still falls about 1 million tonnes short of the amount required to feed its people, experts said.

North Korea stormed out of the last round of inter-Korean economic talks held a few days after the missile launch in July, angered at Seoul's decision to cut its regular food handouts.

Reuters