Canadian charity delivers 220 tons of beans to North Korea

Canadian charity group First Steps has sent 220 tons of beans to North Korea that will be used to make soy milk for malnourished children, a media report said Thursday. According to Radio Free Asia, the Christian nongovernmental organization (NGO) sent the beans to orphanages and daycare centers in Kangwon and South Pyongan provinces and will send monitors to the communist country this week to oversee distribution. The three-person monitoring team plans to visit cities such as Wonsan, Tongchon, Nampo and Dokchon to verify that the beans are being used to make soy milk and inspect the health of children. They also plan to determine the level of food aid coming into these regions. Food conditions in the North improved this year, thanks mainly to a above-average harvest in the fall of 2012, yet the impoverished nation still needs foreign assistance to feed its 23 million people. The Vancouver-based NGO was established in 2001 to support children under five years of age and orphans. First Steps said it provides soy milk to some 80,000 children every day in the North.