A North Korean official says what North Korea needs most is food following the recent heavy rains.

The head of the North’s Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation Committee, Kim Song-won, told the Seoul-based Yonhap news agency Friday from Dandong, China that there is no reason for Pyongyang to refuse Seoul’s aid as long as it's not politically motivated.

Kim said that the North also needs clothes, supplies and heavy equipment for relief work but rice aid should come first more than anything else.

On the death toll from the recent torrential rains, the North Korean official refused to give specific numbers, citing the official statistic is still pending.

The official also said that the heavy rains completely inundated some rice fields in Hwanghae Province, the food basket of the North, ruining rice crops.