South Korea‘s government halted annual shipments of 400,000 tons of rice to its neighbor in 2008 as cross-border relations worsened. There have been only selective acceptance for private humanitarian and medical aid but Seoul’s unification ministry must authorize all contacts with the North in advance.
Wednesday‘s shipment was made through Amity Foundation, a Chinese aid group, following an agreement between KNCC delegates and their North Korean counterparts in Beijing in March. The unification ministry, which handles cross-border relations, said it would consider taking legal steps against KNCC members who had made illegal contacts with the North.
“It’s not proper for the KNCC to ship aid to North Korea after making unauthorized contacts with North Korea,” said Representative Lee Jong-Joo. The KNCC said it made an oral request to the ministry to ship food but the ministry said it had received no official application.
The church council vowed to go ahead with unauthorized shipments. “We hope our government will ease tight restrictions on civilian humanitarian shipments to North Korea that have no political motives,” spokesperson Kim Chang-Hyun told AFP.
The communist state in recent months has asked the United States and a variety of other countries for help to feed its people. Private aid groups and United Nations organizations say millions face severe shortages.
(아주경제 앤드류 이 기자)
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com