North Korea reportedly asked for aid from South Korea during talks between the two Korea’s Red Cross societies at the North Korean border city of Gaeseong on Wednesday.

A South Korean official said the North’s side asked for 500-thousand tons of rice and 300-thousand tons of fertilizer during the talks. The South Korean delegation replied that the Red Cross Society is not authorized to handle such an issue.

The official said that the North has not changed its demand for working-level talks to resume tours to the North’s Mount Geumgang resort or for rice and fertilizer aid in return for regularizing reunions between inter-Korean families.

Another Seoul official says the decision on whether to grant large-scale aid to North Korea should be made by factoring in the state of inter-Korean relations. He said that discussions among relevant government agencies as well as the South Korean public’s consent are necessary.

Although the two Koreas failed to reach an agreement on holding regular inter-Korean family reunions, the two parties are to meet again on November 25.