ARIRANG NEWS 10:00 N. Korea asked for rice in return for inter-Korean summit

ARIRANG NEWS 10:00 Hello and welcome... it′s 10am on Thursday the twenty-ninth of January... you are tuned in to our mid-morning newscast here on Arirang TV. Thanks for joining us,... I′m Mark Broome. Let′s take a look at what′s making the headlines. Former South Korean president Lee Myung-bak says North Korea offered his administration an inter-Korean summit and an apology for the Cheonan sinking in return for 500-thousand tons of rice aid. A U.S. research institute says North Korea may be attempting to restart its main nuclear bomb fuel reactor after a five-month shutdown. Plus,.. a purported Islamic State message demands a failed Iraqi suicide bomber be taken to Turkish border by sunset Thursday or the Jordanian pilot it is holding will be executed. The fate of the Japanese hostage is unclear. Title: N. Korea asked for rice in return for inter-Korean summit, warship apology: former S. Korean President We begin with that revelation by former president Lee Myung-bak. The previous South Korean leader says... that, in mid-2010,... North Korea offered to hold an inter-Korean summit and issue an apology over the deadly torpedo attack on a South Korean warship IF Seoul... gave it half-a-million tons of rice. Our Hwang Ji-hye has the details. Former South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has shed light on previously hidden history... centering around issues like a proposed inter-Korean summit... and an apology by North Korea for the Cheonan warship sinking. Lee says... Pyongyang asked for 500-thousand tons of rice in July 2010... in return for the highest-level talks between the two Koreas... and an apology for the attack on the warship. This came in an extract reported by Seoul-based Yonhap News Agency on Thursday... ahead of the official release of Lee′s 800-page memoir on his presidency. The former president said he refused the offer because it would have been under Pyongyang′s terms, and he was NOT comfortable with it. Lee added the North′s planned statement on the Cheonan warship sinking would have been a general apology,.. not an acceptance of its responsibility. Lee also said he strongly pressured then-Chinese President Hu Jintao during a G20 meeting in June 2010... to enforce international sanctions against Pyongyang after the deadly sinking. On his highly-controversial river restoration project, Lee said future generations will be able to evaluate the true value of it. He cited other major government projects that faced criticism at the time,... but ended up being successful. The four-rivers project a signature project of the former leader has long been under fire over alleged shady construction deals... and the irreversible damage it has done to local ecosystems. Lee′s book, called "President′s Time," is set to hit shelves next Monday. Hwang Ji-hye, Arirang News. Title: N. Korea could be trying to restart Yongbyon nuclear reactor: 38 North Now to a development that, if true,... could ratchet up tensio