South Korea oKs first private Aid to North

South Korea approved Wednesday a shipment of private humanitarian aid to the North, an official said, in this year’s first assistance to the communist neighbor.Three private aid groups in South Korea were given permission to send shipments of flour, other ingredients for bread and long underwear worth 425 million won about (US$400,000) to infants and children in the impoverished country, unification ministry spokeswoman Park Soo-jin told reporters.The latest move brings the total amount of assistance to the North by South Korean private aid groups to over 7.2 billion won since early 2013, when South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye took office, according to South Korea’s (Yonhap) News Agency.In her New Year’s press conference on Jan. 6, Park said the South will bolster humanitarian assistance and exchanges with North Korea.The approval came just days after North Korea rejected South Korea’s proposal to hold reunions of families separated in the 1950-53 Korean War.