Aid sent by air to North Korea

PORTLAND-- A joint U.S.-Canadian air shipment of $3.9 million in humanitarian aid departed San Francisco International Airport for North Korea on Saturday, March 31. The shipment, coordinated by Portland-based Mercy Corps, included 66 tons of apple seedlings, poplar cuttings, vegetable seeds, and farm eqiupment.

The items are designated for Mercy Corps’ experimental farm, located in south Pyongan Province, which serves as a model for long-term agricultural de-velopment in North Korea.

Contributions to the shipment include: vegetable seeds from the Beaverton Rotary Club of Oregon; fruit tree seedlings from Meadow Lake Nursery and Huserik Bro-thers Nursery of Oregon; medical supplies from Northwest Medical Teams International; and athletic shoes from Nike of Beaverton.

The shipment was transported on a Boeing-747 operated by Evergreen International Aviation of McMinnville.

Mercy Corps has been working in North Korea since 1996 to provide humanitarian assistance to victims of the food shortages that have plagued the nation due to years of flooding and drought. Mercy Corps has shipped over $9.4 million worth of critically needed medicines, medical supplies and food, and distributed and monitored 230,000 metric tons of American food aid as part of a consortium of private voluntary organizations.

These humanitarian shipments are a key component of Mercy Corps’ longer-term goal of assisting in the rehabilitation of North Korea’s agricultural infrastructure while supporting mutually beneficial exchange and cooperation between U.S. and North Korea counterparts.

For more information visit www.mercycorps.org or call 1-800-292-3355, ext. 250.