SEOUL, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- A South Korean charity said Friday 180 tons of flour would be delivered to North Korea, the first such aid since the death of the North's leader Kim Jong Il.
The South Korean government approved plans for a group of officials from the Korea Peace Foundation, based in Seoul, to travel to the North next week to deliver the shipment -- designed to help ease food shortages in the Communist country, Yonhap News reported.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il died Dec. 17 and was succeeded by his youngest son Kim Jong Un.
The charity group representatives would visit the inter-Korean industrial complex in the North's border city of Kaesong, one of the group's officials, Bang Hyun-sup, said. The flour would be delivered to a primary school and a daycare center near Kaesong, Bang said.
A member of the delegation would stay back to ensure the aid, received through donations, reaches those meant to receive it, he said.
Yonhap said South Korean civic groups donated nearly 3,000 tons of flour to North Korea last year.
