An association of South Korean charity groups Wednesday urged the government to lift its ban on aid to North Korea.
 
The Korea NGO Council for Cooperation with North Korea said in a statement that the aid it provides to the North fell to a record low last year.
 
While calling on the government to normalize aid to the North, the association also claimed that Seoul should enact a special law that would guarantee a steady flow of aid to Pyongyang and could not be disrupted by political or military situations on the Korean Peninsula. 
 
The association in particular requested the government allow provisions of food aid such as flour and rice for general North Korean residents. It also urged the government to lift a ban on the aid of fertilizer to North Korean farmers.
 
Since May of 2010, the government has only allowed aid for the North’s most vulnerable people, such as children and pregnant women. The ban is part of the encompassing May 24 economic sanctions measures put on the North in the wake of the deadly sinking of South Korean ship Cheonan in March 2010.