North Korea had a price for South Korea reconciliation talks: $10 billion

(Image credit: Song Kyung-Seok - Pool /Getty Images)

published 29 January 2015

When North and South Korea met for unification talks in 2000, it emerged later, then–South Korean President Kim Dae-jung helped funnel $500 million to late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. So when Kim Jong Il wanted to meet with another South Korean president, Lee Myung-bak, in 2009, he had some bigger demands, Lee writes in a new book, according to Reuters. Lee was president from 2008 to 2013.

The conditions for the talk included $10 billion in cash, 400,000 tons of rice, 100,000 tons of corn, and 300,000 tons of fertilizer, Lee writes, adding that in his opinion, "we shouldn't be haggling for a summit." He didn't agree to the terms, and partly because of that, and partly because Kim Jong Il refused to acknowledge a 2010 torpedo attack that killed 46 South Korean sailors, Lee writes, he never met the North Korean leader before Kim's death in 2011. Last week, North Korea issued new demands for reconciliation talks: South Korea has to lift the sanctions Lee imposed after the deadly torpedo attack.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.

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