South Korea's presidential office sent a gift of 200 tons of tangerines to North Korea in return for the North's mushrooms in September following the summit between the two leaders in Pyongyang.
 
Presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said on Sunday that South Korean cargo planes carrying the fruit left Jeju Island for Pyongyang at 8 a.m. Sunday.
 
The spokesman said, accompanying the tangerines were Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-sung and presidential secretary for unification policy, Suh Ho, who oversaw the delivery of the shipment.
 
Kim said that tangerines were chosen because they are in season at the moment, and it is a kind of fruit that is rare in North Korea, adding that the office hoped as many North Korean people as possible can taste them.
 
The spokesman said the tangerines, packed in 20-thousand boxes, will be sent to the North in four shipments until Monday.
 
Four cargo planes will fly each shipment and the first shipment is expected to arrive in Pyongyang at 10 a.m. and return to Seoul at 1 p.m.