The Defense Ministry says South Korean rice aid to North Korea has been diverted to North Korean troops.

A Defense Ministry official said Thursday that North Korean troops in military units had been seen unloading about 400 bags of rice from trucks more than a dozen times since 2006.

The official said the bags of rice had the words ‘Republic of Korea’ imprinted on them and also had the South's Red Cross markings.

The official said the South Korean military took photos of such scenes and delivered them to the Unification Ministry and other related agencies.

Another official said the government had several reports of rice aid being found in North Korean military units. But it did not raise the issue during high-level inter-Korean talks such as military talks as it did not correspond with the nature or agenda of those meetings.