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SEOUL - South Korea reached a deal with North Korea yesterday to resume massive rice aid to its impoverished neighbour, as well as agreeing to the first run of trains across their heavily fortified border in 50 years.
But Seoul did not link the resumption of rice aid to the shutdown of the North's nuclear reactor as some in the South had intended.
South Korea, which suspended rice aid after North Korea defied international warning and test-fired missiles in July 2006, will send 400,000 tonnes of rice to the North next month, reports Yonhap news agency from Pyongyang, where high-level economic talks are going on between the two Koreas.
The two Koreas also agreed to conduct on May 17 the first run of trains across their heavily fortified border in more than 50 years.
Tracks have been built from the South into North Korea but the North's military, suspicious of setting up links to the outside world, has been blocking the test runs.
- REUTERS
