South Korea Ships Flour to North's Starving Children

A South Korean civic agency has sent 300 metric tons of flour to its neighbors in North Korea.

Delivered in a convoy of dump trucks, The Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation shipped the flour across the boarder to day-care centers and orphanages in the southwestern city of Sariwon, according to Channel News Asia.

The shipment was the second of what the agency says will be weekly deliveries until a total of 2,500 metric tons of flour has been sent.

"We plan to send a similar volume every week until late August to provide about 2,500 tonnes in total," a council spokesman told Agence France Presse.

The South Korean government used to send 880 million pounds of rice to North Korea annually, but stopped the program in 2008. The flour shipment is the first aid sent across the border since North Korea attacked a South Korean island last November, killing 11.

There are currently an estimated 650,000 people at risk of death from starvation in North Korea, and about six million people in the country urgently need food, according to the United Nations.

The European Union is sending 10 million euros ($14 million) in food aid to North Korea. The United States is generally a large contributor of aid, but its assistance is diminishing due to the tensions between North and South, as well as over North Korea's nuclear program.

The Red Cross Society of China also pledged to send aid to North Korea after severe flooding hit the country last week. After week-long downpours sparked flash floods and mudslides in the country, the International Committee for the Red Cross and Red Crescent sent hundreds of aid kits containing water, utensils, blankets and tarps to the North Hwanghae province. An additional 2,460 kits -- also filled with soap, toilet paper, towels, toothbrushes, toothpaste and water purification tablets -- will be sent to South Hwanghae soon.