S. Korea suspends humanitarian aid to DPRK

Source: Xinhuanet

10-09-2006 16:11

SEOUL, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- The South Korean government announced on Monday that it had decided to suspend scheduled humanitarian aid to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) as a result of Pyongyang's nuclear test.

"A ship was scheduled to depart from [South Korea's] Donghae port, carrying 4,000 tons of concrete on Tuesday, but we decided to delay the shipment under the current circumstances," said an unnamed official with the Unification Ministry.

However, the decision does not immediately affect all scheduled shipments of humanitarian assistance although there is such a possibility, the official added.

South Korea pledged to provide about 240 billion won (250 million U.S. dollars) worth of humanitarian aid, including 100,000 tons of rice and 100,000 tons of concrete, to the DPRK to help victims of massive floods in July.

The decision came after DPRK announced that it successfully conducted a nuclear test Monday morning. South Korea has strongly denounced the test.

South Korean Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook called an emergency meeting of economic ministers Monday afternoon to assess the impact of DPRK's nuclear test on the economy and discuss measures to deal with possible negative effects.

Editor:Sun Luying