South Korea to resume rice aid, train link to North

Seoul, Apr 22: South Korea reached a deal with North Korea today to resume massive rice aid to its impoverished neighbour, as well agreeing to the first run of trains across their heavily fortified border in 50 years.

But Seoul did not link the resumption of rice aid to the shutdown of the North's nuclear reactor as some in the South had intended.

According to pool reports provided by Yonhap news agency from high-level talks in Pyongyang, South Korea, which suspended rice aid after North Korea defied international warning and test fired missiles in July 2006, will send 400,000 tonnes of rice to the North in May.

South Korea was hesitant to resume the aid after the North missed an April 14 deadline to start closing its Soviet-era reactor and source of plutonium for bombs as required by a six-way disarmament deal reached in February.

Their economic talks got off to a rocky start with the North delaying the proceedings for hours. Pyongyang was angered by Seoul's call for it to abide by the disarmament deal.

Even with a good harvest, North Korea still falls about 1 million tonnes short of the food needed to feed its people, experts have said.

South Korea provides far fewer checks on its food aid to North Korea than agencies such as the UN World Food Programme, making it easier for it to end up in the hands of the North's powerful military instead of the hungry, critics have said.

The two Koreas also agreed at the talks in Pyongyang to conduct on May 17 the first run of trains across their heavily fortified border in more than 50 years.

The last time trains ran across the border was during the 1950-1953 Korean War. The two Koreas are technically still at war because the conflict ended with a truce and not a peace treaty.

Tracks have been built from the South into North Korea but the North's military, which is suspicious of setting up links to the outside world with the secretive country, has been blocking the test runs.

Reuters