The nation's civic groups provided humanitarian support worth over 4-point-1 million U.S. dollars to North Korea this year.
According to Seoul's unification ministry... six South Korean civic groups delivered items like tuberculosis medicine, milk powder, flour, fertilizers and seeds to Pyeongyang throughout this year.
Most of the support consisted of medicine and medical supplies.
The ministry adds such efforts picked up steam after the inter-Korean summit in September.
Meanwhile, 1-thousand-42 North Koreans have defected to the South this year.
The number is similar to that of the same period last year.
Seoul says an average of 1-thousand to 1-thousand-5-hundred North Koreans have been crossing the border each year since Kim Jong-un came into power in 2012.
