South Korean trucks carrying 2,000 tons of rice are heading to North Korea as part of a 400,000 ton rice package Seoul pledged to Pyongyang last month during inter-Korean economic cooperation talks.

Forty South Korean trucks are slated to arrive at the North's border regions of Gaesong and Gosung around noon Tuesday. The 2,000-ton shipment comprises the first batch of some 100,000 tons of South Korean rice aid to be delivered to the impoverished state via two overland routes over a 13-week period ending in early October.

At the 9th round of inter-Korean economic cooperation talks in Pyongyang last month, South Korea agreed to provide 400,000 tons of rice in the form of state loans to the North, with 100,000 tons made up of South Korean rice and the remaining 300,000 tons comprised of imported rice.

Tuesday's delivery marks the first time the Seoul government will send rice via overland route to North Korea since 1995.