"Review Needed for 'Peace Purchase Strategy' Including 1 Trillion Won Compensation for Rice and Fertilizers to North Korea"

Professor Lee Jeong-cheol of Soongsil University Proposal

Amid North Korea declaring the collapse of inter-Korean relations and threatening military measures, there is a call to implement a large-scale cooperation project worth around 1 trillion won to maintain peace on the Korean Peninsula. North Korea's most urgent needs are rice and fertilizer, and it is argued that providing these can prevent a catastrophe caused by North Korea's extreme actions.

On the 18th, Professor Lee Jeong-cheol of Soongsil University stated, "Among the strategies the South Korean government can adopt are retaliation and deterrence, but there can also be strategies of maximum disregard or peace purchasing," making this claim.

At the 66th Unification Strategy Forum hosted by the Far East Research Institute of Kyungnam University in Samcheong-dong, Seoul, Professor Lee said, "If the current situation where North Korea-US relations remain unresolved does not improve, pursuing 'deterrence through compensation' could be the most flexible strategy."

He assessed, "North Korea appears to be conducting offensives against the South under the judgment that conventional conflicts are not disadvantageous to them," and suggested, "If considering compensation as a means, it would be effective to think on a large scale."

He added, "What North Korea desperately wants is rice and fertilizer," emphasizing, "It is necessary to bring public discussion on large-scale cooperation projects regarding these."

North Korea convened a Workers' Party Political Bureau meeting on the 8th and raised the fertilizer issue as the first agenda item, which is evaluated as reflecting North Korea's urgent internal circumstances.

Additionally, as part of health cooperation projects, Professor Lee proposed including health cooperation related to the Pyongyang General Hospital under construction in North Korea in the package of aid to the North.

He stressed, "It is necessary to consider a package cooperation plan worth 500 billion to 1 trillion won covering food, fertilizer, and healthcare."

Professor Lee advised that coordination with the United States and responses to domestic opposition against excessive aid are important in this process.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.