Seoul Earmarks $110 Mil. for Aid to N. Korea
2003-06-23
South Korea decided Saturday (June 21) to use 167.6 billion won (US$140 million) from the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund to provide rice aid to impoverished North Korea.
The decision, made in a meeting of the inter-Korean exchange and cooperation committee at the Unification Ministry, allows the government to ship the first batch of 400,000-tons of rice aid to North Korea by the end of this month.
"Considering physical timing, the first shipment is possible only by the end of the month at the earliest," said a Unification Ministry official, noting an exact date is not fixed due to the annual rainy season which is likely to begin next week.
The loans, which include the cost the rice and transportation fees, carry an annual interest rate of one percent and are scheduled to be paid back by the North in 20 years.
"As we decided to use the inter-Korean cooperation fund at the session, we will ensure that South and North Korea sign a contract on loans on Monday," the official said.
Seoul predicts the North will need a total of 6.23 million tons of food this year, but will still be about 1.48 million tons short even if the World Food Program provides 510,000 tons and some 200,000 tons are imported from China.
The impoverished country has suffered from chronic food shortages as a result of economic mismanagement as well as a series of floods and other natural disasters in the mid-1990s, and has relied on foreign aid to feed its population of 22 million.
The participants also agreed to tap into the fund to provide up to 895 million won ($751,700) for the upcoming family reunions slated for Friday at the North's Geumgang mountain.
Since the landmark inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang in June 2000, the Koreas have held six rounds of reunions for thousands of family members separated by the heavily fortified border.
Source : www.korea.net
