A delegation from a South Korean nongovernmental organization will visit North Korea next week for talks with government officials on cooperation in the agricultural sector.

The group said Wednesday Lee Soo-sung, chairman of the National Council of the New Village Movement, will lead the nine-member delegation, whose trip begins next Monday.

During its stay, the delegation plans to tour a poultry farm in the Changsuwon region of Pyongyang next Wednesday and hold talks with officials of the North's agricultural research institute to discuss ways of rendering support to the North's rural areas.

The South Korean NGO has provided 830 million won (US$711,835) in financial aid and poultry-raising technologies to North Korean farms since last year, when it started helping the North in its bid to modernize its rural areas.