South Korea will consider resuming humanitarian aid to impoverished North Korea but it has ruled out assistance on the large scale of previous, more liberal administrations, a senior official said Sunday.| The small scale aid is just enough to feed the elite party cadres and the military down to about the rank of major ... |
For a decade, South Korea was one of the biggest donors to the North, shipping hundreds of thousands of tons of food across the militarized border every year. But aid stopped after Lee took office last year with a pledge to get tough on the North. That prompted a dip in relations, and tensions deepened over the regime's nuclear and missile tests earlier this year. Ties have since improved.
North Korea asked for humanitarian assistance at talks with the South on Friday - its first such request during Lee's government.