[Translation Fwd] Drive for the Establishment of ‘Pan-Korean People’s Committee for Sending Unification rice to North Korea’

* Image source: Cho Sung-Bong, Tongil News, March 10, 2010

'In the morning of March 10, there was a civil society organizations’ joint press interview to denounce the Ministry of Unification that has disallowed to send the unification rice to North Korea and to urge to resume the rice support for North Korea,’ in the front gate of Seoul Government Building Management Service building.'

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* Below is the arbitrary translation of parts of the linked article.

Tongil News
Drive for the Establishment of ‘ Pan-Korean People’s Committee for Sending Unification rice to North Korea’
: Will Form the Committee during March and April.. Urge Lee Myung-Bak Government to Converse the Policies against North Korea
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Jung Myung-Jin (mjjung (at) tongilnews.com)

While the current [Lee Myung Bak] government has repeatedly disallowed the ‘unification rice’ support for North Korea by the peasant organizations and itself has posed the rice support for North Korea, various civil society organizations drive for the ‘Pan-people’s Movement for Sending the 6.15 Unification Rice’ (tentative)’ to solve that problem.

[…]

It is the initiative to enlarge the movement for sending the unification rice, which has been lead by the peasant organizations, to the movement by all Korean people, therefore to urge the rice support to North Korea and even to aim at the conversion of Lee Myung-Bak government’s North Korean policy.

By now, the peasant organizations have claimed that while [former] governments’ rice support to North Korea, which has been 400,000 t every year, has been posed under the [Lee] government for three years, about 1,200,000 t rice stock that has been increased for that reason has lead to the heavy fall of rice price, to the degree of threatening the survival rights of the rice farming households. Otherwise, the 100 t ‘unification rice’ that the peasant organizations have self-cultivated has been loaded nationwide as the government has three times disallowed them to send that rice to North Korea, since last January.

[…]

The participants saying through the press interview, “The unification rice that has been abandoned on the cold asphalt roads must go to the bothers and sisters in North Korea,” urged the government by saying that,“ This year specially welcomes the 10th anniversary of 6.15 Joint declaration. The Lee Myung-Bak government must converse all the hostile policies against North Korea.

For More Photos, go to the Korean Peasants League Site.