The government will announce the timetable for delivery of its 400-thousand ton rice aid shipment to North Korea early next week.

Vice Unification Minister Shin Eon-sang told a briefing Friday that there have been changes in the rice aid situation, adding that an announcement will come next week on the overall timetable including when the first batch will be sent.

Shin noted that it will take about four months to ship all of the rice aid to the North.

The first batch is known to be slated for shipment as early as this month.

The vice minister also said that U.S. nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill's visit to Pyongyang wasn't critical to the rice aid decision, calling the aid strictly unrelated to the six-way nuclear agreement.

On the provision of heavy fuel oil to North Korea for implementing nuclear dismantlement steps, Shin said that several scenarios are being reviewed. He added that delivery will keep pace with how the situation progresses.

He also said that construction of a family reunion center at the North's Mount Geumgang is well under way and about 38 percent complete. He said the two Koreas are working to finish it this year and begin talks next month on reunion arrangements and the center's operation.