A senior South Korean presidential official lashed out at North Korea Friday over its reported demand for huge economic aid in return for a summit with then-South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.

Lee, who served as president from 2008 to 2013, said then North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, the late father of the current leader Kim Jong-un, first expressed his hope for a summit in August 2009, leading the two rival Koreas to begin behind-the-scenes negotiations on the issue.

“North Korea demanded that Seoul offer the North 100,000 tons of corn, 400,000 tons of rice, 300,000 tons of fertilizer as well as asphalt pitch worth $100 million and $10 billion to fund its establishment of the national development bank,” Lee said in his memoir, “President’s Time,” to be released next week.

A senior secretary for President Park Geun-hye said North Korea’s demand for money as a precondition for a summit is something that is “a surprise and unacceptable.”

The official, speaking only on condition of anonymity because of the issue’s sensitivity, made it clear that the government will handle diplomatic issues in a transparent manner.

His comment is the latest sign that Park does not have any intention to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un if huge economic aid and other strings are attached to a summit.

It’s not rare that North Korea has demanded huge aid in return for summit with South Korea.

Former President Kim Dae-jung was under fire from critics that he bought a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in 2000 after the revelation that Hyundai Group, one of South Korea’s conglomerates, illegally transferred $500 million to the North just months before the first-ever summit. (Yonhap)