Underwear shipload sets off for the North

A shipment of 941,000 pieces of winter underwear, courtesy of the Red Cross and private-sector donations, left Incheon for North Korea on Wednesday. It is the first installment of 1.9 million pieces of underwear, valued at 9.2 billion won ($7.6 million), that are to be delivered to the North this winter.

A Red Cross official in Seoul said the shipment was leaving six days behind schedule, due to malfunctions at unloading facilities in the port of Nampo. The port is located on the southwestern coast of North Korea.

Unionized longshoremen since late last week have been refusing to load rice for shipment to the North, part of government aid program, but loading of the underwear went ahead, the official said.

Donation of winter underwear began in December 2000 and 3.37 million pieces have been delivered.