TMCnet News
N. Korea requests additional fertilizer aid from S. Korea+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)SEOUL, April 10_(Kyodo) _ North Korea has requested that South Korea provide an additional 300,000 tons of fertilizer aid, South Korea's Unification Ministry said Monday. The North Korean request would be on the dialogue table when officials from the two Koreas meet for the 18th ministerial talks on April 21-24 in Pyongyang. The ministerial talks, launched after the landmark inter-Korean summit in 2000, are aimed at promoting national reconciliation and economic cooperation projects between the Koreas. South Korea has completed the shipment of 150,000 tons of fertilizer to North Korea, out of 450,000 tons of fertilizer aid the North asked for earlier this year. In a telegram sent to the South on Friday, the North made the request for the provision of the remaining 300,000 tons of fertilizer. In the telegram, the North expressed its appreciation for the shipment of the 150,000 tons received so far. Last year, North Korea asked for 500,000 tons of fertilizer aid and South Korea sent 350,000 tons, according to the South's Yonhap News Agency. South Korea also shipped 500,000 tons of rice to the North last year, Yonhap said. |