SOUTH STILL WANTS TO SEND AID FOR NORTH’S POOR, BUT JAPAN OBJECTS

>> SEOUL: South Korea and Japan, the United States’ two main East Asian allies, differed over providing humanitarian aid to North Korea’s malnourished children and pregnant women, hours after that country fired a ballistic missile over Japan.

President Moon Jae-in of South Korea and the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, talked on the phone on Friday, sharing their condemnation of North Korea’s latest missile test and vowing to work together to bring about more sanctions against the country, Mr Moon’s office said.

But Mr Abe took issue with South Korea’s plan to donate US$8 million to two United Nations humanitarian programs in North Korea. He asked the president to reconsider the timing of the aid, Mr Moon’s office said.

On Thursday, South Korea announced plans to donate $4.5 million to help the World Food Programme provide nutrition-rich supplies to North Korean hospitals and day care cenres. It also plans to donate $3.5 million to UN Children’s Fund projects that supply vaccines, medicine and malnutrition treatment to children and pregnant women there.

Yoshihide Suga, Japan’s chief Cabinet secretary, said on Thursday that providing aid for North Korea could undermine international efforts to pressure Pyongyang. But hours after the North’s missile launch on Friday, South Korea reconfirmed its humanitarian aid plans.

“We began considering humanitarian aid upon requests from the World Food Programme and Unicef,” Mr Moon was quoted in a statement from his office as saying to Mr Abe. “Support for small children and pregnant women should be handled separately from politics.”

Relations between South Korea and Japan are often tense and include historical disputes rooted in Japan’s colonisation of the Korean Peninsula. But under Washington’s urging, the countries have worked together to address the growing military threats from North Korea, and recently signed an agreement to share military intelligence.

Still, the approach of the new liberal South Korean leader differs from that of the conservative Japanese prime minister. When the dovish Mr Moon took office in May, promising to push for dialogue with the North, there were concerns about clashes with Mr Abe, who is widely considered a hawk.

Japan has been particularly alarmed by the last two missile tests because the projectiles flew over northern Japan before landing in the Pacific Ocean.

In response to the North’s latest nuclear test, the UN Security Council adopted a new sanctions resolution against North Korea on Tuesday, its ninth since the country’s first nuclear test in 2006.

If enforced, it would deprive North Korea of 30% of its annual fuel imports. It also bans textile imports from North Korea, stripping the country of another source of hard currency.

North Korea’s economy has improved under Kim Jong-un, but UN relief agencies have appealed annually for donations, reporting widespread malnourishment among children and nursing mothers.