1st LD: S. Korea to push for 8-mln-USD humanitarian aid to DPRK through int'l organizations
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E-mail Xinhua, May 17, 2019
SEOUL, May 17 (Xinhua) -- South Korea will push for 8 million U.S. dollars of humanitarian aid to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) through international organizations, Seoul's unification ministry said Friday.
The ministry said in a statement that the government decided to push for the provision of 8 million dollars to humanitarian aid projects of international organizations, including the World Food Program (WFP) and the UNICEF, for babies and pregnant women in the DPRK.
The contribution would be made under the position that South Korea will continue humanitarian assistance for the DPRK people irrespective of political situations, the ministry noted.
The government of South Korean President Moon Jae-in announced a plan in 2017 to provide 8 million dollars of aid for the DPRK through international organizations, but it had been halted on international sanctions against Pyongyang.
During the telephone conversation with Moon earlier this month, U.S. President Donald Trump expressed support for South Korea's food assistance to the DPRK.
The last South Korean food aid to the DPRK happened in 2010 when 5,000 tons of rice was delivered to the north.
The Seoul ministry said the government will review concrete food aid plans for the DPRK, such as a direct assistance to the DPRK or an indirect aid through international organizations, after sufficiently collecting public opinion.
The ministry said in a separate statement that the government approved the request by businesspeople to visit the currently suspended Kaesong Industrial Complex for the purpose of checking facilities.
It noted that the request was approved from the perspective of protecting people's property rights, vowing to make necessary efforts to let the businesspeople visit the DPRK's border town of Kaesong.
The jointly-run inter-Korean factory park was unilaterally closed down by South Korea in February 2016 over the DPRK's nuclear test in the previous month.
On April 30, 193 businesspeople who had run factories in Kaesong and eight lawmakers applied to the unification ministry for their visit to Kaesong, according to local media reports. Enditem
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