ID :
182677
Tue, 05/17/2011 - 13:39
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/182677
The shortlink copeid
S. Korean Christians vow to give unauthorized food aid to N. Korea
SEOUL, May 17 (Yonhap) -- A South Korean Christian group said Tuesday that it plans to give unauthorized food aid to North Korea to help relieve chronic food shortages in the North.
The National Council of Churches in Korea said 172 tons of flour worth 100 million won (US$91,700) is scheduled to be trucked to Pyongyang through the Chinese border city of Dandong on Wednesday.
The council officials reached an agreement on flour aid with their North Korean counterparts during their unauthorized contact in Beijing in March. South Korean laws ban the country's citizens from contacting North Korean officials without government approval.
South Korea has selectively approved humanitarian and medical aid to North Korea despite lingering political tensions on the divided Korean Peninsula.
So far, five civic groups have been allowed to deliver 830 million won worth of bread, soy milk, basic medical supplies and anti-malaria aid to the North, bringing the total amount of aid to the North this year to 2.28 billion won, according to the Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs.
Also Tuesday, Stephen Bosworth, U.S. special envoy on North Korea policies, said Washington will soon decide whether to send a team of officials to North Korea to look into food shortages.
Bosworth made the comment in Seoul after his meeting with the top South Korean nuclear envoy to discus stalled talks on ending Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programs.
North Korea has relied heavily on international handouts since a massive famine hit in the mid-1990s. International assistance has dropped significantly in the wake of a series of nuclear and missile tests that Pyongyang has conducted in defiance of warnings.
South Korea has provided little food assistance to North Korea since a conservative government took power in Seoul in 2008 and tied cross-border exchanges to denuclearization efforts by Pyongyang.