Summit bears fruit

South Korean military transport aircraft began a tangerine airlift to North Korea yesterday, the first of a gift of 200 tonnes of the fruit from the southern island of Jeju, South Korea's presidential Blue House said.

The present comes after the North Koreans gave South Korean President Moon Jae-in two tonnes of pricey pine mushrooms after a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang in September.

North Korea has pursued nuclear and missile programmes in defiance of UN sanctions and South Korean officials said last week they had tested the mushrooms for radiation after an opposition lawmaker complained.

The Jeju tangerines were packed in 20,000 boxes and will be flown to Pyongyang by four C-130 aircraft during multiple flights starting from yesterday, the Blue House said in a statement.

Several senior South Korean officials, including Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-sung and presidential secretary for unification policy Suh Ho, flew to Pyongyang to deliver the first shipment.

North Korean leader Kim faces continued international pressure over his weapons programmes.

He vowed to work toward denuclearisation during his historic June summit with US President Donald Trump, but Pyongyang's actions have fallen short of US demands for irreversible steps to scrap its arsenal, including a full disclosure of nuclear facilities and materials.