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(LEAD) S. Korean farmers to send rice to N. Korea amid frozen relations
SEOUL, Jan. 7 (Yonhap) -- A South Korean farmers' organization said Wednesday it will send 174 tons of rice to North Korea this week, continuing non-governmental humanitarian aid amid damaged inter-Korean relations.
The Korea Peasants League said they have arranged to have a ship collect rice from across the country at ports along the coast. The boat left the southern island of Jeju on Monday and will depart from the port of Incheon, west of Seoul, on Friday. It will likely arrive at the North Korean port of Nampo on the same day if weather conditions at sea are normal, they said.
"We hope this shipment will be a small seed to normalize the frozen inter-Korean relations," the group's Jeju branch said in a statement.
Non-governmental aid has continued amid the political stalemate. The South Korean government suspended its customary food and fertilizer aid to the impoverished state last year as North Korea cut off dialogue and intensified an anti-Seoul media tirade.
A Seoul-based Buddhist organization, the Jungto Society, shipped food aid worth 380 million won (US$293,436) intended for mothers and children in North Korea last week.
This week's shipment by the Peasants League includes some 60 tons of rice donated by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, a labor umbrella group. The union group and the farmers are calling for legislation that would implement the regular delivery of rice aid to North Korea.
"The government should give up its Cold War North Korea policy and promulgate a policy of co-existence," they said in a statement.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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