Unification minister to meet with UNFPA's head over census on N. Korea

SEOUL, Oct. 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's unification minister will meet with the head of a U.N. agency on population this week to discuss Seoul's possible support for a U.N. census on North Korea, government officials said Thursday.

Minister Cho Myoung-gyon plans to have talks with Natalia Kanem, executive director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on Friday in Seoul, according to the Ministry of Unification.

The ministry earlier said that it is "positively" considering chipping in US$6 million for UNFPA's 2018 survey on the North Korean population. A preliminary survey is being conducted in October with technical support from the U.N. agency.

"They are expected to exchange views on the census on North Korea," a government official said. "The UNFPA chief is expected to solicit Seoul's contribution to the project."

Kanem is in Seoul for a two-day conference on population which kicked off Thursday.

The government said that financing part of the project will be a good chance to grasp the current state of the North Korean population and to use the outcome of the census for inter-Korean economic cooperation later.

It would mark the North's first census since 2008, when the South provided Pyongyang with $4 million by tapping into its inter-Korean cooperation fund.

sooyeon@yna.co.kr
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