Seoul | Thursday
THE first shipment of South Korean fertiliser aid this year left for North Korea Thursday ahead of the planned reunions of families torn apart by the peninsula’s Cold War frontier.
The Red Cross authorities said a cargo with 15 000 tons of fertiliser departed from the southern port of Yeosu for the North’s western port of Nampo.
The shipment was the first batch of 200 000 tons of fertiliser Seoul has promised to donate to Pyongyang this year. Red Cross officials expected the total amount pledged to be shipped by the end of May.
The humanitarian aid followed a visit to Pyongyang this month by South Korean presidential envoy Lim Dong-Won who met the North’s leader Kim Jong-Il.
During Lim’s trip, the Pyongyang asked for fertiliser and food aid from Seoul while agreeing to restart stalled inter-Korean peace initiatives.
The South is considering sending 300 000 tons of food aid to the North after a joint economic cooperation committee meeting from May 7 to 10.
Korean relatives, who have been kept apart for decades by the inter-Korean border since the 1950-53 Korean War, are to be allowed to meet at the North’s Mount Kumgang on Sunday.
The two sides saw a warming of ties after a historic summit of their leaders in June 2000.
But the North froze talks with the South last year when US President George Bush took office and adopted a tough line against the North.
Lim’s latest Pyongyang trip resumed the stalled inter-Korea peace process. – Sapa-AFP