Seoul OKs more civilian aid to Pyongyang

By Kim Young-jin

The government on Wednesday approved two more civilian groups to send humanitarian aid to North Korea, as it continues to approve aid packages after recently lifting the ban on such activities.

The Ministry of Unification announced it would allow Okedongmu Children in Korea to send 79 million won worth of medical supplies; and the Korea Association of People Sharing Love to send 17 million won worth of food for orphans.

The groups were the fifth and sixth non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to gain approval to send aid northward since Seoul last month lifted its ban, imposed after Pyongyang’s deadly shelling of Yeonpyeong Island in November.

The Ministry said it continues to review applications on a case-by-case basis, determined by need and transparency of distribution. Applications from twenty groups are still pending.

Tensions remain high over the North’s refusal to account for the shelling incident and the sinking of the warship Cheonan in March last year, both of which killed a total of 50 people.

A recently-released U.N. report said more than 6 million North Koreans are in dire need of food, citing a recent fact-finding mission to the communist state.

Assistance to the North has been a thorn festering in the side of inter-Korean relations since 2008, when the Lee Myung-bak administration made drastic cuts in food aid, linking any provisions offered by Seoul to denuclearization efforts made by Pyongyang.

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