Akhir 26, 1432, March 31, 2011, SPA-- South Korea on Thursday approved civilian aid to the North for the first time since an attack on one of its islands in November, media reports said, according to dpa. Tuberculosis drugs worth 336 million won (305,000 dollars) will be sent by the United States-based Eugene Bell Foundation, the Yonhap News Agency said, citing a Unification Ministry official. "There have been voices that at least civic groups should be allowed to send aid to North Korea. The government has taken these factors into account," the official said. The official, who asked to remain anonymous, said the government was considering other requests to send aid to the Stalinist state. North Korean shelling of Yeonpyeong Island in the Yellow Sea in November killed four people, leading Seoul to halt shipments of aid to Pyongyang. Permission for the shipment came days after the United Nations asked for 430,000 tons of aid for North Koreans, in particular for pregnant women and children. In recent years the conservative South Korean government has linked contacts with the North to its denuclearization efforts. This resulted in the suspension of 300,000 tons of annual rice aid to the North that had been provided in previous years.
