The Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation abruptly delayed a ceremony announcing its plans to send fertilizer to North Korea, scheduled for March 13.

They claimed inadequate preparations for the cause of the delay. But some experts say that the delay may be due to opposition triggered by the sensitive nature of the aid item, fertilizer, which has been excluded from large-scale aid to the North for the past 7 years.

The council had planned to send fertilizer to the North under a program titled, "Campaign to Send 1 Million Sacks of Fertilizer to North Korea." They plan to send 1 million 20 kg sacks of compound fertilize to the North by encouraging people to each open one donation account.

The price of one sack of fertilizer is 12,000 won, so they plan to raise 12 billion won. This is a considerable amount compared to the 5.1 billion won, which was the scale of aid to North Korea sent by 18 private organizations last year. President Park Geun-hye's close aide, Hong Sa-deok (71), head chairman of the council personally suggested and is promoting this campaign, drawing more attention.

However, the latest postponement has given birth to rumors. In a text message to the executive members of the council, Hong wrote, "I'm afraid I am at fault for having pushed ahead with this despite many concerns at the chairmen's meeting the day before."

This implied that they did not have enough time to prepare for the ceremony while Hong pushed ahead. Currently, the council's website displays an introduction to the project along with a banner that reads, "1 Million Sacks of Fertilizer to the North," and in the page titled "donation status," it says, "under preparation."

Some speculate that there may have been a disagreement between the council and the government. If this campaign receives the government’s approval and proceeds as planned, aid to North Korea by private organizations, which has been restricted since the May 24 Measure, will enter a new phase.