Thawing Relations: South Korea Sending Aid to North

South Korea will send $8.5 million in aid to flood-ravaged North Korea in a sign of warming relations, NPR reports. The 5,000-ton shipment of rice and cement represents the South’s first major aid shipment to its neighbor after an alleged torpedo attack from the North in March that killed 46 South Korean sailors.

Last month’s catastrophic flooding—which has affected some 90,000 people—and the North’s ongoing economic troubles appear to be behind the thawing relations, which have also seen North Korea float the idea of more family reunions. "I'm optimistic that at some point in the not-too-distant future we can be back engaged," a US envoy said of restarting stalled negotiations on Pyongyang’s nuclear program. For more news on the North, including a possible transfer of power in the works, click here.