The Unification Ministry has blasted the main opposition party's bid to halve next year's inter-Korean cooperation fund.

In a regular briefing Tuesday, Kim Cheon-sik, the chief of the ministry's inter-Korean exchanges department, said the Grand National Party's demand will hurt ties between the two Koreas.

He said more money is necessary for joint projects that start next year in agriculture, light industry and science and technology, in addition to Seoul's electricity provision to Pyongyang as agreed in the fourth round of the six-way nuclear talks.

Kim warned that an insufficient budget will hurt the country's credibility in that it would hurt the implementation of inter-Korean and six-way agreements.

The ministry has asked the National Assembly to allocate 2.63 trillion won for inter-Korean projects next year.

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