A total of five hundred leaders from five different religious groups have agreed to announce a statement urging the resumption of humanitarian aid to North Korea.

In the statement, leaders of Protestant, Catholic, Buddhist, Won Buddhist and the Cheondogyo will urge the government to fully resume its humanitarian aid to the North.

Members of a religious solidarity seeking reconciliation and peace of the Korean people say they will hold a news conference at the Seoul Press Center April 12th to call for humanitarian aid to North Korea.

Chairman of a Christian organization welcomed the Unification Ministry's decision to resume civic aid to vulnerable North Korean people. However, the organization stressed that aid for regular North Koreans must also be resumed.

The five religious groups say that after the news conference they will gather aid supplies for North Korea.

The Unification Ministry said previously that the South’s ban on dealings with North Korea placed on May 24th last year in response to the North’s sinking of a South Korean naval vessel is still valid and South Korea has no plan to offer government-level aid or approve South Koreans’ visits to North Korea.

However, the South Korean government approved shipments of humanitarian aid by a civic group to North Korea Thursday and Friday. Officials say that the government will continue to approve civilian organizations’ aid programs aimed specifically for children and the vulnerable in North Korea if transparency is guaranteed in the supply’s distribution.