The government has allowed a visit to North Korea by a humanitarian aid group for the first time since Seoul banned cross border visits in late May.

The ban was in response to North Korea's sinking of a South Korean warship in March.

In a Friday briefing, Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung said the government approved a visit by a group of three medics and officials of the Korean Sharing Movement to deliver supplies to areas struck by malaria in the North.

They will visit the border city of Gaeseong on Tuesday to deliver supplies worth 400 million won, or about 337-thousand dollars.

The spokesman said the decision was based on humanitarian grounds and the need for disease quarantines in border areas. He stressed that the government stance on visits to North Korea remains unchanged.