South Korea is expected to review its plan for humanitarian assistance to North Korea via UN agencies, including the timing of its actual provision, this week, a government official said Tuesday.

Defense Minister Song Young-moo said at a parliamentary session Monday that Seoul's provision of $8 million in aid to North Korea could be considerably delayed even if the government approves the plan Thursday.

Seoul's unification ministry said that Song's remarks appeared misleading as there is no change in the government's stance over humanitarian support for the North.

The government has said that aid to those who are vulnerable in the North should be handled regardless of political situations.
 

"A decision over the timing and other details will take into account inter-Korean ties and other factors," a ministry official said.

A controversy has been brewing here over whether it is proper for Seoul to offer aid to North Korea amid deepening international sanctions over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs.

The ministry said that the issue and the international sanctions regime should be dealt with separately.

If the government approves the aid plan this week, it will mark Seoul's first assistance to the North via UN agencies since December 2015.

The previous conservative government suspended humanitarian assistance to the wayward regime after its fourth nuclear test, which was carried out in January 2016. (Yonhap)