정부, 1천만달러 대북지원 결정... WFP 통해 영유아.여성지원<br /><br />The South Korean government is set to donate some 10 million U.S. dollars to North Korea.<br />It's the first humanitarian aid to the regime since the inauguration of Seoul's new unification minister last month.<br />It's nearly double the amount Seoul donated to Pyeongyang last year.<br />Kim Hyo-sun reports.<br />Seoul plans to provide 10 million U.S. dollars-worth of humanitarian assistance to North Korea via a World Food Program aid project.<br />The decision, made during a meeting of the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Promotion Council on Thursday,... aims to provide essential food and nutrition for hundreds of thousands of young children and women in the North.<br />This is the first humanitarian aid to the regime since the inauguration of unification minister Lee In-young in July,... who has vowed to carry out more humanitarian cooperation projects between the two Koreas.<br />"It's important to express our sincerity to North Korea to restore inter-Korean ties. This can be done in words, but actions are more meaningful."<br />He also stressed the need to break away from the narrow-minded perspective of linking the issue of humanitarian aid with political and military situations.<br />The money will be remitted to the WFP next week,... which will purchase goods needed by the North Korean people.<br />The aid, which will include some 36-hundred tons of corn, beans and cooking oil, is expected to arrive in North Korea around the end of this year.<br />An official from Seoul's unification ministry explains that the WFP requested the aid earlier this year,... and the South Korean government engaged in related discussions with the international organization in March.<br />Last year, the South donated 4-point-5 million dollars in cash to help over 10 million North Koreans suffering from hunger.<br />The small-scale trade, or bartering, between the two Koreas,... which was first suggested by Minister Lee, is also expected to take place in the near future.<br />This entails trading 150 million dollars-worth of North Korean liquor with 167 tons of sugar from the South,... bypassing international sanctions that ban cash transfers.<br />Kim Hyo-sun, Arirang News.<br /><br />
