Russia seen as key to food aid plan

MOSCOW ― South Korea is developing a plan to offer food assistance to North Korea from large supply bases in Russia’s far east, a South Korean government official said yesterday.
The Seoul government sent five experts to Russia last month to start planning the project.
According to the South Korean official, a team of five experts including an official from the Rural Development Administration visited Moscow and Russia’s territory of Primorskii krai between July 15 and July 26 for site surveys.
“Our plan is to lease inexpensive farmland in the maritime territory over the long term,” the official said. “Then we plan to grow rice, rye and buckwheat there to provide grain aid to the North.” The official said North Korea would be able to provide the farm labor.
The Rural Development Administration, the research arm of the government’s agricultural efforts, said it will lease a farm from Russia’s Agricultural Ministry in early spring to run a pilot project that will test crops to grow in the maritime region.
South Koreans have leased farms to run as private businesses in Russia’s extreme east, but now the government has joined in to organize a large-scale food supply project.

by You Chul-jong