Vice Unification Minister Shin Eonsang says that the delayed implementation of initial steps agreed in the February 13th six-way nuclear accord will not affect the government’s planned rice aid to North Korea.

Under the agreement, North Korea pledged to implement initial steps to shut down its nuclear facilities by April 14th but is not likely to meet the deadline due to the delayed transfer of its unfrozen funds at Macao’s Banco Delta Asia.

The official told a regular news briefing Thursday that Seoul will send rice aid to Pyongyang as planned to maintain momentum in inter-Korean relations and enhance security on the Korean Peninsula.

During the 20th inter-Korean high-level talks last month in Pyongyang, the two sides agreed to discuss further Seoul’s provision of 400-thousand tons of rice aid at an inter-Korean economic cooperation meeting set to open on April 18th.