S. Korea offers North to aid in exchange for denuclearization

Seoul: South Korea is ready to facilitate the development of the North’s economy, energy, trade, and agriculture sectors and employ international investment initiatives if Pyongyang starts a real denuclearization process, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said on Monday. “Provided that Pyongyang shuts down the development of nuclear weapons and starts the real denuclearization, I propose a huge plan intended for improvement of the North Korean economy and the lives of the country’s people which would be executed in accordance with its [denuclearization] stages,” Yoon said on the occasion of the National Liberation Day of Korea, as broadcast by the official KTV channel.

The plan presupposes a large-scale food program, assistance in establishing industrial infrastructure, electric supply transmission and distribution, as well as the modernization of ports and airports to set up international trade, the president said.