The government has given aid to North Korean athletes for the first time since its launch last month.

A Unification Ministry official said it used 12-million won, or about 11-thousand-800 dollars, from the inter-Korean cooperation fund to cover accommodations for North Korean participants at the 2008 Asian Wrestling Championships on Jeju Island.

The official said the aid request from the Korea Wrestling Association was granted because it was for inter-Korean human exchanges and was small in size.

Last year, the government spent three billion won, or a little over three million dollars, for human exchanges from the inter-Korean fund. Seoul allotted six million dollars for that purpose this year.