South Korea resumed official economic assistance to North Korea on Tuesday as tensions eased over Pyongyang's nuclear program, sending a shipload of fertilizer to the impoverished nation.A Vietnamese-registered cargo ship left the southwestern port of Yeosu for North Korea carrying 6,500 tons of composite fertilizer — the first batch of a 300,000-ton shipment, said Kim Nam-sik, a spokesman for the Unification Ministry.
The South's official aid to North Korea has been suspended since July when North Korea test-fired a series of missiles, although some emergency relief supplies were later sent to help the North cope with heavy floods.
Aid was kept on hold in the wake of Pyongyang's nuclear test in October, but ties between the Koreas improved markedly after North Korea promised in international disarmament talks last month to take initial steps to dismantle its atomic programs.
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