South Korea to resume rice aid to North

Seoul, June 26: South Korea said today it will resume rice aid to North Korea, a day after Pyongyang said it would begin implementing a nuclear disarmament deal and allow a visit from UN nuclear inspectors.

South Korea suspended regular food aid after Pyongyang defied international warnings and test-fired a barrage of missiles in July 2006. The North's first nuclear test about three months later further exacerbated tensions.

Seoul has said it was ready to provide North Korea with 400,000 tonnes of rice this year if Pyongyang made progress in a deal to scrap its nuclear arms programme in exchange for energy aid, security assurances and better diplomatic standing.

As part of the six-nation deal reached in February, North Korea will begin shutting its reactor and source of weapons-grade plutonium as well as allow a visit from the International Atomic Energy Agency in return for 50,000 tonnes of fuel oil.

South Korean Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung told reporters that Seoul would resume rice shipments from June 30 and would try to complete them as quickly as possible.

''The implementation of the Feb. 13 deal was necessary for this,'' he said.

The North has long struggled with chronic food shortages because of mismanagement of the farm sector and bad weather. It has relied on handouts from Seoul to feed its people.

Famine in the late 1990s killed as many as 10 per cent of its 22 million population, relief agencies have said.

Critics say Seoul does not provide as many checks as agencies such as the UN World Food Programme making it more likely the rice will end up in the hands of the North's powerful military.

Reuters>