S. Korea gives nod for first group trip to North since nuke test

SEOUL, July 31 (Yonhap) -- South Korea on Friday greenlighted a request by aid
workers to visit North Korea, the first such approval since the communist state's
nuclear test in May.

A group of seven workers from World Vision's South Korean branch will begin their
eight-day trip, starting Saturday, to Pyongyang and provincial towns, officials
at Seoul's Unification Ministry said.
"The decision was made based on the government's position that humanitarian
assistance to North Korea should be continued," ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung
said in a briefing.
Chun said, however, the current restriction on civic visits to North Korea is
still effective and that the ministry will selectively approve other cases
depending on the purpose of the visit and its urgency, as well as the state of
inter-Korean relations.
Seoul imposed a travel ban immediately after North Korea conducted its second
nuclear test on May 25, citing political tension in the region. Only
business-related trips involving a joint industrial complex in the North Korean
border town of Kaesong and a tourism resort in Mount Kumgang were exempt from the
ban.
World Vision said the trip is aimed at resuming assistance in potato farming in
North Korea.
Earlier this week, a Seoul-based aid group, the Korean Sharing Movement, was
forced to cancel its planned visit to the North as it failed to receive an
official invitation from Pyongyang.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)