North Korea faxed New Year's greetings to South Koreans it considers likely to support sending aid across the border in 2011, a South Korean official said.
Thirty-five organizations, including local governments near the North Korean border, and 15 South Korean activists, received the faxes, a government official told Yonhap News Agency.
The fax called for South Korea to honor the countries' past agreements that promise economic aid and cooperation for impoverished North Korea, the official in Seoul said in the Yonhap article published Thursday.
"We are here sending New Year's greetings. We wish you success in your patriotic activities toward the reunification of the (Korean) nation and the defense of peace and stability under the banner of the inter-Korean declarations," the official quoted the fax as saying.
North Korea has sent similar faxes to South Korea annually since 2001, the official said.
Earlier this year, North Korea used faxes to deny involvement in the sinking of a South Korean warship in March and responsibility for the artillery exchange between the two countries in the Yellow Sea in November, Yonhap said.