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| ▲ This image of a ceremony to deliver 4,000 tons of rice to the Philippines is provided by the Korean Embassy in the Southeast Asian nation on Feb. 3, 2025. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
S Korea-Philippines-assistance
S. Korea provides 4,000 tons of rice to typhoon-hit Philippines
HANOI, Feb. 3 (Yonhap) -- South Korea has provided 4,000 tons of rice as aid to the Philippines, where a series of typhoons killed more than 100 people and flooded vast swathes of farmland last year, the Korean Embassy in the Southeast Asian nation said Monday.
The embassy hosted a ceremony in Batangas, located in the Philippines' southwestern Luzon region, earlier in the day to deliver the rice aid after six consecutive typhoons hit the country between late October and mid-November, causing food shortages.
The Philippine government plans to distribute the rice to households affected by the typhoons.
The embassy said the assistance is part of an agreement signed between President Yook Suk Yeol and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in October. The agreement elevated bilateral ties to a "strategic partnership" and committed the two nations to heightened humanitarian cooperation, including in the area of food security.
South Korea is a party to the ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve (APTERR), a system under which the country, along with Japan, China and the 10 member nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, maintains rice reserves for emergency sales or donations in case of food shortages or disasters.
The latest rice provision to the Philippines was carried out under this system, according to the embassy.
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