(LEAD) S. Korea negative on fertilizer aid to N. Korea

SEOUL, March 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's point man on North Korea on Wednesday expressed a negative view of a civilian drive to ship fertilizer to the North to help resolve the communist country's food crisis.

A coalition of about 200 South Korean civic groups said Friday it had launched a public campaign to send 20,000 tons of fertilizer to North Korea to support some 200 farms over 660 square kilometers.

"The timing isn't ripe to send fertilizer to the North," Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae told reporters after a forum on inter-Korean affairs.

His comments indicate that the government may oppose the plan by the Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation to ship fertilizer to the North.

Any private assistance to the North requires the South Korean government's approval. The Koreas still technically remain in a state of war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

The Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation said it plans to hold close consultations with the government and request the government approval for its planned shipment at an appropriate time.

South Korea has banned fertilizer aid to the North by private relief agencies since May 2010, when Seoul imposed sanctions on Pyongyang in retaliation for the deadly sinking of a warship blamed on North Korea. The North has refused to take responsibility for the sinking that killed 46 South Korean sailors.

The South Korean government gave 2.55 million tons of fertilizer to the North between 1999 and 2007, according to the unification ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs.

The South Korean government has said it is not currently considering providing fertilizer to the North.

Also at the forum, Ryoo pressed North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons programs, noting Seoul's economic cooperation with Pyongyang will be limited unless the nuclear issue is addressed.

"I will pay more attention to efforts to resolve the North's nuclear issue," Ryoo said, without elaborating.

His comments came five days after North Korea threatened to bolster its nuclear deterrence and take additional measures to demonstrate its might as long as nuclear threats and blackmailing by the United States persist.

North Korea claims its nuclear programs are a deterrent against American hostility.

The North's latest threat could indicate that it may carry out a fourth nuclear test or launch a long-range rocket.

North Korea conducted nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and February 2013, drawing international condemnation and U.N. sanctions.

The North has launched a barrage of short-range missiles and rockets into waters off its east coast in recent weeks, a move that Seoul and Washington say is provocation.

"We don't know when North Korea will carry out another provocation," Ryoo said.

His comments also came just days after China's top nuclear envoy visited North Korea in an apparent attempt to jump-start the long-dormant six-nation talks on ending Pyongyang's nuclear program.

Wu Dawei is expected to meet with his North Korean counterpart to discuss, among other things, ways to reopen the nuclear talks that have been suspended since late 2008. The nuclear talks involve the two Koreas, China, the U.S., Japan and Russia.

entropy@yna.co.kr

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