Jeju Province sends dialysis machines, citrus saplings, other supplies to N. Korea

Jeju Island Governor Oh Young-hun / Courtesy of Jeju Province

The Jeju provincial government said Monday it has recently sent dialysis machines, tangerine saplings and other supplies to North Korea as part of an inter-Korean cooperation project.

The items, worth 160 million won ($104,000), arrived in North Korea's western port of Nampho on May 4 after they were shipped from South Korea's western port of Incheon on April 1 via the Chinese port of Dalian, according to the province.

The provincial government said it submitted an application to the unification ministry on March 9 to send the items to North Korea, which included the medical equipment, forestry pesticide and saplings of Hallabong, a type of citrus fruit grown on Jeju.

It said the items were sent through cooperation with a North Korean support group for the disabled but noted that it has yet to receive confirmation from the North Korean side on their arrival.

The provincial government said it began pushing for the project after Gov. Oh Young-hun discussed inter-Korean cooperation projects when he met Unification Minister Chung Dong-young last November.

In February, a provincial delegation met with North Korean officials and reached an agreement to carry out inter-Korean cooperation projects in phases, according to the province.

They agreed to first focus cooperation on tangerines, medical welfare and forest pest control before expanding cooperation to pig farming and tourism, it said.

But the Jeju government declined to confirm a local media report that said Oh met Ri Ho-nam, a North Korean intelligence operative, in Beijing in February.

Ri is known for his suspected involvement in a 2019 North Korea remittance case. Prosecutors have alleged a former chairman of underwear maker Ssangbangwool illegally delivered $700,000 to Ri at a hotel in Manila, the Philippines.

Under past inter-Korean cooperation projects, the island sent 48,000 tons of tangerines and 18,000 tons of carrots to North Korea from 1998 to 2010.

The projects were suspended following the 2010 sinking of a South Korean warship by a North Korean torpedo attack in the Yellow Sea, which killed 46 South Korean sailors.

The province, however, did send tangerines to North Korea in one-off instances, including in 2018 and 2021.

The unification ministry said it has approved the Jeju government's request to transfer the goods to the North in accordance with relevant legal requirements.

"(Under the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Act), a provincial government is not considered a government authority, but a legal entity," said Yoon Min-ho, spokesperson of the ministry, stressing that the project does not fall under exchange programs involving state authorities.