SEOUL, April 1 (Yonhap) -- South Korea on Friday approved additional humanitarian aid to North Korea after it granted such assistance by a civic group earlier this week for the first time since the North shelled a South Korean island last November, an official said.

   The latest shipment approved comes from the Korean Sharing Movement and includes 30 million won (US$27,000) worth of bread, milk powder and candies for children in northeastern North Korea, Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung said at a briefing.

   On Thursday, South Korea approved the first civilian aid to the North since the November artillery clash killed four South Koreans on the Yellow Sea island of Yeonpyeong.

   The approval of 336 million won worth of tuberculosis medicine from the Eugene Bell Foundation came amid a series of signs that tension may be lowering on the Korean Peninsula.

   South Korea suspended even the most basic humanitarian assistance to North Korea after the North shelled Yeonpyeong. The resumption of civilian aid comes after the United Nations called last week for more than 430,000 tons of food aid to support the most vulnerable groups, such as children and pregnant women, in North Korea.

   South Korea has provided little food assistance to North Korea since a conservative government took power in Seoul in 2008 and tied cross-border exchanges to denuclearization efforts by Pyongyang.

   The North maintains the shelling was triggered by a South Korean military provocation along their western sea border. The North also denies its role in last year's sinking of the Cheonan warship, which claimed the lives of 46 South Korean sailors.

   In a nationally broadcast news conference on Friday, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak renewed his demand that the North apologize for the series of incidents last year, tying such behavior to the restoration of inter-Korean exchanges.

   samkim@yna.co.kr
(END)