South Korea Ready to Ship Food Aid to North Again

South Korea will start food aid to North Korea on June 30. It has been 17 months since Seoul finished shipping 500,000 tons of rice it promised to in 2005.

Lee Jae-jeong, the Minister of Unification, said on Tuesday, “The first shipment of 3,000 tons of rice will be sent from Gunsan to Nampo in North Korea on Saturday. Over the next four months until October, rice aid will be offered gradually.”

The South Korean government sent a document outlining its plans to the North on Tuesday morning.

The 400,000 tons of rice will consist of 150,000 tons (1.71 million won per ton) of domestic rice, and 250,000 tons of imported rice (380 dollars per ton). The total cost of 384.9 billion won will come from the Inter-Korea Cooperation Fund (164.9 billion won) and from the Grain Management Special Account (220 billion won). 350,000 tons of rice will be delivered via ship and 50,000 tons will go via truck. The South will send monitors to five distribution sites in North Korea for every 100,000 tons it ships.

Grand National Party spokesperson Na Gyeong-won said, “ The Unification Ministry is getting impatient again. To win public support, the government should resume rice aid to the North three weeks after the Yongbyon nuclear plant is closed.”

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