South Korean Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung said Tuesday that the shipment of rice aid to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) will be resumed on Saturday.
"We made the decision judging that the conditions for denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula are taking shape under the Feb. 13 agreement," Lee told a briefing here.
"Based on reports from the World Food Program on the North (DPRK)'s food situation and opinions from U.N. officials and Seoul-based ambassadors to the North, we think it is right to ship rice aid as soon as possible," he said.
According to Lee, the shipment, which will consist of 250,000 tons of imported rice and 150,000 tons of domestic rice, will be delivered within six months.
South Korean inspectors will monitor the distribution at 20 places in DPRK each time 100,000 tons of rice aid is shipped, Lee said.
The first shipment of 3,000 tons of rice will leave South Korea's Gunsan Port on Saturday for DPRK's Nampo port, he added.
Under an agreement by the two side, DPRK is supposed to pay back 152 million-U.S. dollar worth of loans over 20 years after a 10-year grace period at an interest rate of 2 percent.
International inspectors from the United Nations' nuclear watchdog are to arrive in Pyongyang later in the day to discuss ways of monitoring and verifying DPRK's shutdown of its main nuclear reactor at Yongbyon, north of the capital Pyongyang.
South Korea has suspended food and fertilizer aid to DPRK since the latter conducted missile tests in July last year.
