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S. Korea Sends Food Aid to North VOA News 1 Mar 2002 14:22 UTC 
South Korea has sent the first of a planned shipment of 100,000 tons of food aid to North Korea.
A ship with more than 23,000 tons of corn was sent to North Korea Thursday. South Korea's Unification Ministry says more shipments are planned over the next few weeks, with completion expected in early April.
Altogether, the shipments are worth more than $19 million. The food is to be distributed by the United Nations World Food Program. Program officials warned this week that North Korea could run out of food by the middle of this year. They cited a huge drop in international donations, as attention is focused on the plight of war-torn Afghanistan.
U.N. officials say North Koreans are eating less than half the amount of food they should each day. They say foreign governments have pledged only 25 percent of the 611,000 tons of food sought for North Korea in 2002.
Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP.
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