By Yoo Dong-ho
Staff Reporter

Trucks carrying relief and educational supplies left to North Korea on Friday to help victims of last month’s massive blast at a train station in Ryongchon, a town in the northwest of the country.

It is the first time aid supplies have been delivered overland to the communist nation, instead of sea and air routes.

The supplies are the fifth batch sent to the North to help the reconstruction at Ryongchon, which was devastated by the explosion that left 161 dead and more than 1,300 injured.

The convoy used the road between Munsan, south of the heavily fortified demilitarized zone (DMZ), and nearby Kaesong city, which is currently under construction as a cross border economic project, Korea National Red Cross (KNRC) officials said.

The trucks left the depot in Ilsan, Kyonggi Province early in the morning and arrived at the South Korean Customs, Immigrations and Quarantine (CIQ) office near the DMZ+ at around 10 a.m.

After a short ceremony to mark the first overland delivery, the South Korean officials left for the North Korean CIQ office in Kaesong, 6.8 kilometers north of the DMZ.

``The Ryongchon accident will serve as a turning point for inter-Korean reconciliation,’’ said Lee Yoon-gu, president of the South Korean Red Cross.

The supplies were loaded on 20 eight-ton dump trucks and included 50 steel plates, along with 1,500 sets of desks and chairs for children donated by Duoback Korea.

About 80 drivers and support personnel rode the trucks across the DMZ around 11 a.m. and instructed North Korean drivers on how to drive the vehicles for the rest of the journey.

The shipment comes two days after the fourth aid package worth 683.4 million won ($545,193) was transported to the western North Korean port of Nampo.

The North had requested 13 different items to help in their reconstruction efforts, including heavy construction equipment, food, cement, steel plates, fuel, televisions and desks.

The KNRC said it will continue to provide timely assistance to the North if it requests it.

The South Korean government and the KNRC have so far provided more than $3 million in relief goods for the North Korean victims of the explosion.

yoodh@koreatimes.co.kr