Anchor: The South Korean government has started collecting ideas regarding food assistance to North Korea. The move follows a request by the UN's World Food Program(WFP) but it remains to be seen whether the government can establish a national consensus.
Celina Yoon has more. 

Report: South Korean Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul is meeting leaders from civic groups and religious organizations on Tuesday afternoon as part of efforts to collect opinions regarding food aid to North Korea.

Kim will also meet the ministry's policy advisers on humanitarian aid and cooperation on Wednesday. 

The ministry's spokesperson said the opinions of every camp will be gathered, regardless of conservative or progressive wings. 

This comes after Seoul's announcement that it will review the WFP's request for humanitarian aid for the North. 

David Beasley, executive director of the WFP, met President Moon Jae-in on Monday where the two agreed to cooperate closely on the food aid issue.

Beasley also met the unification minister where he showed deep concern regarding the food shortage in the North. 

In a joint survey with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization released early this month, the WFP estimated that ten million North Koreans, or around 40 percent of the population, are in urgent need of food, with the country's crop output last year hitting the lowest level in ten years. 

The agency called for donations to the impoverished regime, stressing that humanitarian assistance should be separate from politics. 

Seoul has been positive regarding aid to help keep the stalled nuclear negotiations alive, but it says that forming a social consensus is the most crucial step following Pyongyang's launch of short-range missiles into the East Sea last week.
Celina Yoon, KBS World Radio News.

[Photo : YONHAP News]