The government plans to ship 100-thousand tons of corn it pledged to donate to North Korea this year through the World Food Program (WFP), beginning late this month.

A government official said Thursday the state-run Agricultural & Fishery Marketing Corp. is preparing to buy corn from China and send it directly from a Chinese port to the impoverished North.

The official said the Seoul government has been donating corn to the North every year since 2001. He said that with the rise of grains and transportation expenses, the costs for the annual corn donation this year will be around 24 million dollars, significantly higher than 16.2 million dollars spent last year.