ROK to provide 50,000 tons of rice to DPRK

SEOUL - The Republic of Korea's Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul, the country's top policymaker in charge of inter-Korean affairs, told a televised press briefing Wednesday that it will provide 50,000 tons of rice to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) through the World Food Program (WFP).

Kim said it would take around two months to deliver the country's homegrown rice to the DPRK through the WFP, noting that Seoul will make efforts to provide the rice as rapidly as possible.

The rice provision announcement came after Seoul approved a plan earlier this month to donate $8 million to the WFP and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) for humanitarian food aid to the DPRK.

Through the two organizations, the donation would be used for food assistance to babies and pregnant women in the DPRK.

The last ROK food aid to the DPRK happened in 2010 when 5,000 tons of rice was delivered to the north.

The necessary fund for rice aid worth 27 billion won ($23 million) would be raised from the inter-Korean cooperation fund, which was launched in 1991 to boost exchange and economic cooperation between the ROK and the DPRK, the minister said.

Kim noted that the timing and size of the additional food aid to the DPRK would be determined later.