The South Korean government Monday approved a local civilian group's plan to send fertilizer to North Korea, the first of its kind in five years.
  

The Unification Ministry has decided to allow representatives from Ace Gyeongam, the foundation run by bed maker Ace, to visit the North on Tuesday for a greenhouse project, ministry officials said.
  

Seven officials from the foundation will also deliver materials worth 200 million won ($185,994), including fertilizer, vinyl and pipes that are needed to build greenhouses, to Sariwon in North Hwanghae Province, before returning home Saturday.
  

It marks the first time that the South's government has approved a private group's bid to send fertilizer to North Korea since it imposed sanctions on the North over a deadly warship sinking in 2010.
  

Inter-Korean exchanges have been suspended since 2010 when Seoul imposed the May 24 Measure that bans economic and cultural exchanges with North Korea as a punishment for the North's torpedoing of the South Korean warship Cheonan in March 2010.
  

In spite of the sanctions, South Korea has approved humanitarian assistance, such as food aid, by private organizations to North Korea, but it had not allowed them to send fertilizer.
  

"Seoul's approval of a small amount of fertilizer aid does not violate the punitive sanctions," said a ministry official, asking not to be named.
  

The government said last week that it has eased donor eligibility requirements to facilitate private groups' humanitarian aid to North Korea.
  

"Seoul plans to approve humanitarian assistance by private groups only if the move improves the livelihoods of North Koreans and the assistance is made in a transparent manner," Lim Byeong-cheol, spokesman at the unification ministry, said at a press briefing.
  

In 2009, Ace Gyeongam set up 50 greenhouses on farms in Sariwon, about 70 km southeast of Pyongyang, with an aim to increase the number to 300 units in the near future. (Yonhap)