A non-governmental South Korean aid group will travel to Pyongyang this week to discuss relief aid for flood-stricken North Korea, Seoul said Thursday.
The Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean issues, approved the Korea NGO Council for Cooperation with North Korea's one-day trip to North Korea set for Friday, the ministry said.
Four officials of the South aid group will cross the border around 9:00 a.m. for the aid consultation in Pyongyang and return to the South in the afternoon, according to the ministry.
The visit marks the first relief discussion between the North and a South Korean entity following recent devastating floods in the North.
The National Reconciliation Council, North Korea's organization for promoting friendship with the South, accepted in a faxed reply the South aid group's proposal that the two hold consultations over flood relief aid, according to an official at the Unification Ministry.
After visiting Pyongyang, the aid group plans to send relief aid to the North before the national holiday of Chuseok, which falls on Sept. 30, according to the aid organization.
The non-governmental council claims a membership of 51 aid groups.
Two other local private aid groups have also applied for the ministry's approval for their North Korea visits next week to hold similar consultations, the official said.
The non-governmental group's aid move comes as the Seoul government remains mum about growing relief needs in the flood-ravaged North due mainly to a chill in inter-Korean relations.
North Korea has reported that more than a hundred North Koreans were killed in recent floods, which also destroyed public facilities and a large plot of farmland there. (Yonhap)