South Korea said it began transporting rice overland to North Korea on Tuesday, the first installment of a total of 500,000 tons it recently agreed to provide its neighbor.

A hundred trucks carried the first 100,000 tons of the promised aid, it said. Sea shipments are to begin Saturday, with the entire 500,000 tons scheduled to be delivered by the end of December, the South Korean Unification Ministry said in a statement.

South Korea agreed to the rice shipments during talks earlier this month in Seoul aimed at boosting economic ties after North Korea announced it would end its boycott of six-party talks on the Korean nuclear issue.

South Korea also promised to give the North raw materials to help it produce clothes, shoes and soap. In return, South Korea will be allowed to invest in the North's mining operations for zinc, magnesite and coal, both sides said in a joint statement.

The 500,000-ton rice package is the largest since 2000, when leaders of South and North Korea met in a landmark summit that paved the way for reconciliation. The countries remain technically at war after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty.

(Chinadaily.com.cn via agencies, July 27, 2005)