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SEOUL - SOUTH Korea's new unification minister said on Thursday Seoul is ready to resume aid to the North if Pyongyang reciprocates 'on humanitarian issues.' 'I will actively cooperate to meet North Korean needs in humanitarian assistance,' Hyun In-Taek said at his inauguration ceremony.
But he said the hardline communist country should also try to meet South Korean needs, in an apparent reference to the hundreds of citizens Seoul says the North has abducted in the past half-century.
Inter-Korean relations worsened after conservative President Lee Myung-Bak took office in Seoul last February and vowed to take a firmer line with the North.
Seoul last year failed to ship its customary annual aid of hundreds of thousands of tons of rice and fertiliser, after Pyongyang made no request for it, but local South Korean groups have continued assistance.
North Korea in recent weeks has intensified threats against Seoul. It has scrapped peace accords, nullified the sea border and warned of possible war.
The North warned on Sunday that relations would grow worse and be pushed to collapse if Hyun takes office.
The minister said he would meet North Korean officials any time to mend inter-Korean relations.
'For the peace of the Korean peninsula and the development of relations between South and North Korea, I am willing to talk with North Korea's responsible officials anytime, anywhere, on any agenda and in any form,' he said.
But he retained his tough stance on the North's nuclear programme.
'North Korea needs to denuclearise so as to fully improve inter-Korean relations and become a member of the international community.' -- AFP
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