North Korean ships in South to pick up aid
North Korean cargo ships yesterday arrived in South Korea for the first time in two decades to take fertiliser aid back to the impoverished communist state, officials said.
The unification ministry here said the North sent three ships into South Korean waters overnight. They are due to return home on Wednesday with their consignments of fertiliser.
Escorted by South Korean navy and coast guard boats, the ships began docking one-by-one at three different ports on the South's southern and western coasts, according to maritime police.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. It is the first time since 1984, when Pyongyang supplied cement to South Korea by sea after a devastating typhoon, that Seoul has allowed ships from the North to dock at its ports.
Thousands of tonnes of bagged fertiliser awaited shipment from a pier at Ulsan, 410km southeast of Seoul, Sunday when one of the three ships first anchored off the coast, witnesses said.
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