Seoul approves first fertilizer aid to North Korea since 2010

South Korea on Monday approved a civic group’s plan to provide fertilizers to the North, marking the first authorization of the politically sensitive aid since 2010.

The decision will allow the Ace Gyeongam Foundation to shore up agriculture in Sariwon, the capital of North Hwanghae Province, by building an additional 50 greenhouses and providing 15 tons of fertilizers and other construction and farming materials.

“They will provide technical support such as for establishing gardens and greenhouses so that the project will proceed smoothly,” Unification Ministry spokesperson Lim Byeong-cheol said at a news briefing.

The organization, based in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province, was set up in 2008 by Ahn Yoo-soo, chairman of furniture maker Ace Bed Co. Ahn, who hails from the region, will deliver the goods worth some 200 million won ($186,000) by land on Tuesday and assess the project’s progress until Saturday together with a team of seven technicians and officials.

The announcement marks South Korea’s first fertilizer assistance to the impoverished neighbor since it imposed bilateral sanctions on cross-border trade, investment, travel and other exchanges following the North’s deadly attacks on a corvette and border island in 2010.

The last package by a private group was authorized in April the same year. State-level support has not taken place since 2007, although humanitarian aid directed at women and children has continued.

Ahn expressed gratitude for the decision, saying his project would provide a “chance to look to the future where our people reconcile and work together.”

The foundation has been running a greenhouse farm there since 2009 at a 33,000 square meter area to boost agricultural production and technology transfers. It has since installed 100 greenhouses and is expected to scale it up to 300.

Along with cement and heavy equipment, fertilizers and grains such as rice and flour remain sensitive items due to concerns that they can be stored for a relatively long time and thus the communist regime may divert them for military and other unintended uses through resale to other countries.

President Park Geun-hye vowed wider humanitarian assistance and proposed a joint agricultural complex in her speech in Dresden, Germany, last March, but her initiative has made little headway amid persistent cross-border tension.

“The government will approve humanitarian aid to North Korea such as for those in agricultural and diary sectors, if they are conducted in a transparent way and in the interest of the North Koreans,” a foundation spokesperson said.

By Shin Hyon-hee, Yeo Jun-suk 
(heeshin@heraldcorp.com) (jasonyeo@heraldcorp.com)