Yonhap
5/8/2007
South Korea will provide some US$2 million worth of insecticide and equipment to North Korea to stem the spread of an infectious pine disease in the communist country, the Unification Ministry said Tuesday.
The South also agreed to send tree specialists to the North to make on-site inspections to assess the damage and share information needed to prevent the pine wilt disease, it said.
The agreement was made at the end of working-level talks held in the North Korean border city of Kaesong. The one-day meeting was held at the request of North Korea.
“The list of aid equipment and the schedule for the on-site visit will be decided in the form of the exchange of a document,” the ministry said in a statement.
The South Korean delegation was led by Oh Ki-pyo, chief of the team for forest blight prevention at the Korea Forest Service, while his counterpart was Chang Yong-chol, deputy director of the North’s forest service bureau.
