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Submitted by ctv_en_6 on Mon, 10/26/2009 - 10:40
The Republic of Korea (RoK) will make a small grant of humanitarian aid to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), ending its suspension of handouts after a series of conciliatory gestures from its destitute rival, an official said on October 26.

Apart from reaching out to the RoK, the DPRK has also sent a senior nuclear envoy to the United States in the past few days for talks that could revive dormant discussions on ending Pyongyang's atomic ambitions in return for massive aid.

The RoK will send an aid package valued at about US$$3.46 million that includes 10,000 tonnes of corn and 20 tonnes of powdered milk, a Unification Ministry official told reporters.

The RoK President Lee Myung-bak, who took office in February 2008, ended years of unconditional handouts to the impoverished the DPRK and launched a new program where Seoul's largesse would be tied to nuclear disarmament.

The RoK once sent up to 500,000 tonnes of rice and 300,000 tonnes of fertilizer a year to the DPRK but the aid was halted after Lee took power.

Reuters

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