North Korean Economy Watch

(UPDATE) Well, It looks like Jeju will be sending a smaller shipment of tangerines to the DPRK without Seoul’s direct financial support:

The provincial government of Jeju Island will go ahead with its annual shipment of tangerines and carrots to North Korea this week despite the central government’s refusal to pay part of the cost, officials said Monday.

The semi-tropical island has sent more than 10,000 tons of tangerines and carrots to North Korea every winter since 1998, with the central government paying for about half the cost.

But the humanitarian project came to a halt this winter as Seoul’s Unification Ministry refused its customary funding of the shipments amid frozen inter-Korean relations.

The Jeju government decided to send a smaller shipment of aid this year — 300 tons of tangerines and 1,000 tons of carrots worth about 600 million won (US$441,176) — to North Korea starting on Friday, ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyoun and Jeju officials said.

“The North said it will receive the shipment as part of non-governmental inter-Korean projects,” the spokesman said. “The ministry will also approve the shipment.” (Yonhap)

(ORIGINAL POST)
According to Yonhap:

South Korea’s tangerine shipment to North Korea will be suspended for the first time in 10 years this winter, as Seoul refused funding the shipment amid frozen inter-Korean relations, officials said Friday.

The provincial government of the semi-tropical island of Jeju has sent more than 10,000 tons of tangerines to North Korea every winter since 1998, with the central government paying for about half the cost.

But the Unification Ministry rejected this year’s motion for funding in the midst of growing tension across the border, officials from Jeju and the ministry said.

“We can’t carry out the project this year,” Yoon Chang-hwan, a Jeju official in charge of tangerine policy, said over the telephone. “It is not a situation in which we can collect money to send them on our own — the government did not allow them to be sent.”

Jeju Island had requested 2 billion won (US$1.55 million) from the Unification Ministry to ship 10,000 tons of tangerines, a local specialty that does not grow in North Korea’s cold weather, Yoon said.

Read the full articles here:
S. Korea suspends tangerine shipment to N. Korea for first time in decade
Yonhap
12/26/2008

S. Korean island to send tangerines to N. Korea despite frozen ties
Yonhap
Kim Hyun
1/12/2009

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 12th, 2008 at 10:00 am and is filed under Food, International Aid. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.