S.Korea Sends Gift of Tangerines to Kim Jong-un

Boxes of tangerines are loaded on an Air Force cargo plane at Jeju International Airport on Sunday.

South Korea is sending 20,000 boxes of tangerines to North Korea in return for a gift of pine mushrooms from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in September.

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A Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson said Sunday that tangerines were chosen because they are in season and are rare in North Korea. He said Cheong Wa Dae decided to send such a huge amount as it wanted as many North Koreans as possible to taste them.   

This is the biggest shipment of South Korean goods to North Korea since 2010, when inter-Korean relations entered a new ice age following North Korea's attack on a South Korean warship in March that year, killing 46 sailors.

Asked whether the shipment breaches international sanctions, Cheong Wa Dae said the tangerines are merely a reciprocal gift with no strings attached.