SEOUL, June 5 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's unification ministry said Wednesday that a plan was approved to donate eight million U.S. dollars to two international organizations for food aid to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
The ministry's panel to promote the inter-Korean exchange and cooperation, comprised of government officials and civilian experts, endorsed the plan to provide 4.5 million U.S. dollars to the World Food Program (WFP) and 3.5 million U.S. dollars to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) each, the ministry said in a statement.
Through the two organizations, the donation would be used for the humanitarian food aid to babies and pregnant women in the DPRK.
It marked the first South Korean humanitarian aid to the DPRK since the Moon Jae-in government was inaugurated in May 2017.
The Moon administration announced the eight-million-U.S. dollar donation plan in 2017, but it had been halted on the international sanctions against Pyongyang.
During the telephone conversation with Moon last month, U.S. President Donald Trump expressed support for the South Korean humanitarian aid to the DPRK.
The last South Korean food aid to the DPRK happened in 2010 when 5,000 tons of rice was delivered to the north.
