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Aug. 18 (UPI) -- South Korean civil society groups have launched a fundraising campaign to donate more than 500,000 tons of rice to North Korea, with the goal of delivering the first shipment by Sept. 21. The progressive Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation and religious organizations said they plan to send about 530,000 tons of rice to the isolated North this year, citing food shortages, South Korean network MBN and local paper Seoul Shinmun reported Wednesday.
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Government agencies have warned of scarcity in North Korea. In a recent estimate, the Korea Rural Economic Institute in the South said North Korea could be short 858,000 tons of food this year.
Civil society groups said their goal is to raise about $250 million in funds to make the rice deliveries. The campaign will take place across South Korea and also solicit donations from overseas Korean groups, according to MBN.
Seoul has supported humanitarian aid to North Korea irrespective of relations with Pyongyang.
South Korean Unification Minister Lee In-young said Wednesday during an academic conference at Korea University that the "second half of the year is very important" in terms of "creating the fruits of a sustainable peace" on the peninsula, Seoul Shinmun reported.
Lee said that humanitarian cooperation between the two Koreas will be "pursued consistently according to humanitarian needs, and not political ones," the report said.
The South Korean official also said that inter-Korean cooperation would enable South Korean economic policies, including President Moon Jae-in's "Green New Deal," to cover the "entire Korean Peninsula."
"In order to promote a new peace deal, the two Koreas must resolve the current stalemate," Lee said.
North Korea restored a communication hotline with the South in July, but suspended the line after South Korea went ahead with joint exercises with the United States. Seoul and Washington have said the drills are for defense purposes.
