SEOUL, Sept. 15 (Yonhap) -- President Moon Jae-in suggested Friday that South Korea could go ahead with humanitarian aid to North Korea in a thinly veiled rejection of a call for caution by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Abe asked Moon to consider the timing of the proposed aid during their phone conversation, but Moon said aid is "an issue that should be dealt with regardless of political situations," presidential spokesman Park Soo-hyun said.
Moon said monitoring is a precondition to the aid in an apparent attempt to ensure that the aid reaches its intended beneficiaries in North Korea.
South Korea is set to decide next Thursday whether to approve the aid to infants and pregnant women in North Korea.
On Thursday, South Korea said that it is considering providing US$8 million in aid to North Korea via the World Food Program and the U.N. International Children's Emergency Fund.
The two agencies have asked Seoul to resume its financial support. South Korea suspended its aid to North Korea through U.N. agencies after the North's nuclear and missile tests in 2016.
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