To cope with the soaring food costs, Lee told his Cabinet to consider leasing land in the Russian Far East and Southeast Asia to grow crops, which could be used to help North Korea. Eventually, South Korea should be prepared to feed the combined 70 million people in a unified Korean nation, he said.
"In the Russian Far East, for example, we can consider a long-term land lease for about 30 to 50 years. North Korean labor can be used there and the produce can be directly shipped to North Korea due to the short transportation distance," Lee said.
The World Food Program has warned that North Korea could face its worst food shortage in years because of severe flooding during the past two years, soaring international grain prices and diplomatic problems confronting major donor nations.
State food rations were stopped for six months even in the capital of Pyongyang in April, according to Good Friends, a Seoul-based aid group.
Lee, who took office in February, has vowed to be tough in dealing with North Korea, but pledged to provide massive economic aid to triple the North's per capita income to $3,000 within the next 10 years if the communist neighbor agreed to give up its nuclear weapons drive.
