Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyoun told reporters the impoverished country recently notified a South Korean civic group that it will accept food aid from it. The North had previously rejected the same civic group's offer of food aid saying the time was not yet right. "But the North is still telling some other (South Korean civic) groups to wait a little longer,” Kim said, “so it's hard to say whether the North has completely changed its attitude toward the food aid from the South."

The government told the North in May and June that it was willing to send 50,000 tons of corn aid, but the liaison official stationed at the truce village of Panmunjom declined.

Turning to a request from the World Food Programme for aid to the North, where shortages have reached crisis proportions, the ministry said. "We're still considering it. The time for a decision is approaching." A senior government official said in a poll in August, many respondents were against food aid to the North. “But we're paying attention to new developments.” Some members of the ruling Grand National Party are urging food aid to the North, he said, and the international community is requesting such aid.

In a press conference in Beijing the same day, the WFP again urged various countries to join the food drive for the North. Kim Yong-hyun, a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University, pointed out that inter-Korean relations have grown tense in the wake of the fatal shooting of a South Korean tourist at Mt. Kumgang, the North's suspension of its nuclear disablement, and the arrest here of a North Korean spy. “Even indirect food aid through a civilian group or an international agency could rejuvenate inter-Korean relations,” he said.

(englishnews@chosun.com )