SEOUL, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- South Korea will resume rice and fertilizer aid to North Korea if it freezes its nuclear programs, according to a Seoul news report Wednesday.
The decision was made at the presidential National Security Council headed by President Roh Moo-hyun on Tuesday, said the Chosun Ilbo newspaper.
The resumption of rice and fertilizer aid "can be discussed at an appropriate time from a humanitarian point of view if the six-party nuclear talks make headway," Baek Jong-chun, the chief presidential secretary for security policy, was quoted as saying after the NSC meeting.
The decision comes just before the six-nation talks on the North's nuclear drive resume this week. The talks include the two Koreas, the United States, Russia, China and Japan.
The South Korean government suspended its food and fertilizer aid to the communist and impoverished North following its nuclear and missile tests last year.
