A military transport plane began transporting the first batch of mandarin fruit to North Korea on Sunday as part of a 200-ton gift from Jeju island in the south of the country, the presidential Blue House said.
The gift from Seoul, in response to a gift from the North to South Korean President Moon Jie-nen, came in sending two tons of expensive pine nuts to him after a summit with leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang in September.
North Korea has sought to develop its nuclear and missile programs, defying sanctions imposed by the United Nations.
South Korean officials said last week that they had carried out radiation tests on mushrooms after an opposition deputy filed a complaint.
The Blue House said in a statement that the Yusufi shipment, which was divided into 20,000 boxes, would be flown by four C-130 planes to Pyongyang on several flights Sunday and Monday.
A number of senior officials from South Korea accompanied the first shipment to Pyongyang, including Chun Hye Sung, deputy unification minister, and Soh Ho, chief adviser to the president on unification.
Kim is under constant international pressure because of weapons programs in his country.
He pledged to take steps for nuclear disarmament at a historic summit he convened in June with US President Donald Trump in Singapore. But the steps Pyongyang has taken so far have not met American demands, including irreversible steps to get rid of its arsenal and full disclosure of its nuclear facilities and materials.
International sanctions and unilateral sanctions have curbed the scope of inter-Korean cooperation, as they prohibit many forms of economic dealings with the North.
But the two Koreas have carried out a number of measures aimed at easing tensions, including participation in sports and cultural events, closing some border guards positions and high-level negotiations.
