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| South Korean President Moon Jae-in (L) advocates talking to the North's leader Kim Jong Un to push him to denuclearise (AFP Photo) |
Seoul (AFP) - South Korea has earmarked more than $260 million to build new railways and roads in the North, an official said Thursday, as Seoul pushes ahead with cross-border projects despite international sanctions on Pyongyang.
The figure
comes as Seoul and Washington follow increasingly divergent approaches to
Pyongyang, with the South pursuing engagement while the US insists pressure on
it should be maintained until it denuclearises.
South
Korean President Moon Jae-in offered to help upgrade the North's outdated rail
and road infrastructure and connect it with the South's in meetings this year
with the North's leader Kim Jong Un.
Seoul plans
to spend about 295.1 billion won ($264 million) on the schemes next year, an
official at Seoul's unification ministry told reporters, with most of it --
186.4 billion won -- given freely and 108.7 billion won in loans.
"It is
an estimate for now... we will continue efforts, including policy coordination
with the US, to carry out the projects agreed between the two Koreas without a
hitch," said the official who declined to be named.
Security
allies Seoul and Washington agreed last week to set up a new working group to
co-ordinate policy amid growing concerns in the US over Moon's approach.
The
official's comments came as a Southern lawmaker accused Seoul of ignoring UN
sanctions on the North.
"The
US maintains the position that it would maintain maximum pressure until the
North produces visible progress on denuclearisation and so does the
international community including the EU," Chung Byoung-gug told the
JoongAng Ilbo newspaper.
"The
budget allocation by our government may make it look like our government is
undermining international coordination on sanctions on the North," he was
quoted as saying.
The isolated,
impoverished North is under multiple sets of sanctions imposed over past
nuclear and missile tests staged in violation of UN resolutions.
Lifting the
measures -- which bans much of its trade including coal exports -- is a key
demand of Pyongyang's in its ongoing denuclearisation talks with the US.
Kim and
Donald Trump held a historic summit in June in Singapore and signed a vaguely
worded deal on denuclearisation, but little progress has been made since then,
with the two countries sparring over the exact meaning of the agreement.
Planned
talks between US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and one of Kim's right-hand
men, Kim Yong Chol, were also delayed this week.
Moon -- a
dove who advocates dialogue with the North to push it towards denuclearisation
-- has met Kim three times so far this year and another summit is being planned
in Seoul.
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