South Korea’s Unification Ministry announced Tuesday that it has earmarked a smaller budget for the inter-Korean cooperation fund next year.

According to the ministry, slightly more than one trillion won has been set aside for the fund for next year, nine percent less than this year.

In particular, the budget for direct humanitarian aid decreased over 100 billion won to around 606 billion won.

The ministry said that the smaller budget is attributable to drops in logistics costs and international prices for rice and fertilizer, which are the main humanitarian aid items South Korea sends to North Korea.

The ministry did, however, increase its budgets for humanitarian aid provided through civilian groups and international organizations by four billion won.