Vietnam donates 1,000 tonnes rice to North Korea
HANOI - Vietnam, the world's second-largest rice exporter, will ship 1,000 tonnes of 10-percent broken rice in food aid to help fellow communist state North Korea recover after an April train disaster.
Prime Minister Phan Van Khai approved the rice assistance to help Pyongyang deal with the consequences of the disaster, the Dau Tu (Investment) newspaper said on Wednesday.
The April disaster, in which a train laden with explosives blew up at a station, razed much of the town of Ryongchon near the Chinese border and killed about 170 people and injured 1,300 in impoverished and hunger-stricken North Korea.
Vietnam competes with the world's top exporter, Thailand, in the rice business. It has sold 2.25 million tonnes abroad in the first half of this year, down 3.3 percent from a year earlier.
Reuters - July 07, 2004.
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