SEOUL, April 5 (UPI) -- South Korea will ship rice aid to North Korea despite a deadlock in the North's denuclearization process, Seoul officials said Thursday.
"The implementation of the Feb. 13 agreement is being delayed, but it would not affect the South's decision to send rice aid to the North," Vice Unification Minister Shin Un-sang said in a news conference. The planned rice aid will be discussed at inter-Korean economic talks to be held in Pyongyang April 18-21, he said.
North Korea has requested 400,000 tons of rice and 300,000 tons of fertilizer in aid for this year. Last week the South sent the first batch of its fertilizer supplies to its impoverished communist neighbor.
The remark comes amid doubts the North will meet the April 14 deadline to shut down its key nuclear plant, as agreed under the Feb. 13 deal, due to a dispute over a transfer of the North's funds in a Macao bank.
