SEOUL, May 9 (Yonhap) -- South Korea approved additional humanitarian and medical aid to North Korea despite lingering political tensions on the divided Korean Peninsula, an official said Monday.

Five civic groups have been allowed to deliver 830 million won (US$769,000) worth of bread, soy milk, basic medical supplies and anti-malaria aid to the North, bringing the total amount of aid to the North this year to 2.28 billion won, Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung said at a briefing.