SEOUL - The Republic of Korea's Ministry of Unification recently requested the country's other governmental agencies to suspend their budgets related to inter-Korean cooperation projects, with the exception of humanitarian aid, a ministry spokesman said on Monday.

The ministry made the request last week in a letter to some 10 governmental agencies, including the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, the Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs, and the ROK's forest service, ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung told a press briefing.

The move comes amid the recent strained relations between the ROK and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Chun said, citing the DPRK's seizure of Seoul's properties at the Mt. Kumgang resort.

But he said the humanitarian aid for the DPRK's vulnerable groups such as infants and pregnant women will not be affected, noting that his country will continue to provide humanitarian aid through international agencies like the World Health Organization.

Last week, the ministry also urged companies involved in inter-Korean economic cooperation projects to refrain from any business expansion in the DPRK.

Relations between the sides have worsened since an explosion sank a 1,200-ton corvette near the disputed inter-Korean border on March 26 with the death of 46 sailors.

Seoul suspects that a DPRK torpedo was to blame. A multinational investigation will report by Thursday.

Late Saturday the ROK fired warning shots after it said two DPRK patrol craft crossed the border in the Yellow Sea before retreating.

Further souring relations, the DPRK last month confiscated or barred access to South Korean assets at a joint mountain resort on its east coast. Pyongyang has expressed anger at Seoul's refusal to resume cross-border tours there.

On Sunday the DPRK's military threatened to stop ROK citizens from crossing the land border and to take other "substantial" measures if leaflets criticizing its regime keep arriving from the ROK.

It also warned of "catastrophic consequences" if the ROK decides to resume official loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts along the border in the wake of the sinking.

Any decision to shut the border would deal a heavy blow to a jointly run industrial estate at Kaesong just north of the frontier.

The unification ministry said it was wrong to link border crossings to the launch of propaganda leaflets. It says it has no legal power to stop private groups sending the flyers via giant balloons.

Last week the ministry urged ROK companies to refrain from signing new deals or supplying resources to the DPRK.

Xinhua - Agence France-Presse

(China Daily 05/18/2010 page10)