A delegation of South Korean Buddhists has visited North Korea to deliver medical aid for children after Seoul approved the trip despite political tensions.
Ten members of the Jogye Order, South Korea's largest Buddhist order, crossed the heavily fortified border and were headed for the Mount Kumgang resort on the east coast, said the spokeswoman for the South's unification ministry, Lee Jong-Joo.
The Buddhists planned to deliver 100,000 tablets of vermifuge, medication used to destroy intestinal worms, during their day-long trip.
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They dropped a plan for a joint Buddhist service with North Koreans following objections by the Seoul government, which must by law authorise all cross-border contacts.
Inter-Korean tensions have been high since the South accused the North of torpedoing a warship in March 2010 with the loss of 46 lives. Pyongyang denied it caused the sinking but went on to shell a South Korean island last November, killing four people.
Following the sinking, Seoul cut most of the remaining links between the two countries, but recently it has authorised a few private aid missions.
Tours by South Koreans to Mount Kumgang started in 1998 and were a significant source of hard currency for the impoverished North.
They ground to a halt in 2008 after a North Korean soldier shot dead a Seoul housewife who had strayed into a restricted military zone.
