S. Korea to support civilian aid to North in hopes of talks

By KIM TONG-HYUNG
Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s government says it will promote civilian efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to North Korea. South Korea hopes to soften a diplomatic freeze deepened by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s growing nuclear ambitions. South Korean Unification Minister Kwon Youngse  didn’t specify the type of aid he sees as conceivable or whether it was realistic to expect those exchanges to induce meaningful diplomacy. North Korea has suspended virtually all cooperation with rival South Korea amid a stalemate in larger nuclear negotiations with the U.S. Kim further ramped up tensions in 2022 by test-firing more than 70 missiles and issuing threats of nuclear conflict with Seoul and Washington.