The South Korean government has suggested that it could consider providing small-scale fertilizer aid and other assistance to North Korea if transparency is guaranteed.
 
Seoul's Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae made the suggestion Tuesday during a keynote speech at a forum hosted by the Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation.
 
During his speech, the minister also stressed that the envisioned inter-Korean agricultural complex under President Park Geun-hye's Dresden initiative could help restore national homogeneity and generate joint profits for the two Koreas.
 
Under sanctions on inter-Korean trade imposed since the North's deadly torpedoing of a South Korean Navy vessel in 2010, the South has banned rice, corn and fertilizer aid to North Korea and has only allowed some humanitarian aid provisions across the border.