South Korea’s Ministry of Unification (MOU) on Tuesday said it hopes to significantly increase the funding allocated for inter-Korean economic cooperation and reunions of separated families.

The proposal for the fiscal year 2018, which is the first by the Moon Jae-in administration, allocated around KRW1.27 trillion (around USD$1.1 billion) to the MOU, an increase of 5.5 percent compared to last year’s budget.

Out of this, KRW1.05 trillion was allotted to the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund (IKCF), up 8.7 percent from 2017.

The IKCF was established in 1990, according to the official website of the Export-Import Bank of Korea, to “promote