A top South Korean official on relations with North Korea called on Pyongyang Thursday to agree to hold reunions of divided families on a regular basis, saying such a move would help create the right atmosphere for more aid to the impoverished nation.
North Korea asked the South for 500,000 tons of rice and 300,000 tons of fertilizer during Red Cross talks last week organized to discuss humanitarian issues, such as families separated by the heavily armed border since the 1950-53 Korean War.
Pyongyang made the demand as South Korea proposed organizing family unions on a regular basis.
Seoul is unlikely to accept the aid request as it has said any massive assistance to the North is possible only when there is progress in efforts to end North Korea's nuclear programs and Pyongyang's acknowledgement of responsibility for the March sinking of a South Korean warship.
On Thursday, Vice Unification Minister Um Jong-sik said that it is inappropriate to link family reunions to economic assistance. Still, he said the North's agreement to regularize family meetings would be good for setting the mood for more assistance.
"Should family reunions be regularized ... it would be conducive to creating public sentiment for aid provision to the North," Um said in a radio interview, adding that any massive aid to the North would be beyond a humanitarian level that Seoul has said it is willing to offer.
North Korea's attitude on the ship sinking, overall inter-Korean relations and other factors should be taken into account in considering large-scale aid to the North, he said.
Relations between the two sides have worsened seriously since the ship sinking, though their ties have shown signs of improvement in recent months as Pyongyang made a series of peace overtures amid sanctions for its nuclear test and the ship attack.