President of the Korean National Red Cross Han Wan-sang says relief aid from the nation’s private and public sectors to North Korea will exceed 50 billion won.

Appearing on a KBS radio program, Han said the size of rice aid to the North should be determined based on an estimate made last month by the World Food Program on damage from heavy rains totaling about 100-thousand tons of grain production loss.

He added that the Red Cross will be able to provide aid starting from next week after negotiating with Pyongyang and gaining Seoul’s approval.