Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok says the government has not promised North Korea any economic aid in return for former President Kim Dae-jung’s planned visit to Pyongyang in June.

On a local radio program Wednesday, Lee vehemently denied claims by the main opposition Grand National Party that a back-door deal on the visit had likely been reached with the North.

The minister said that North Korea had previously asked three times for Kim to visit, adding that Seoul has been providing the North rice and fertilizer aid since 2000 to help ease the communist country's chronic food shortages.