South Korea has offered humanitarian aid to North Korea for the first time in two years, ending its suspension of handouts after a series of conciliatory gestures from Pyongyang.

The aid package from South Korea, valued at about 3.5 million dollars, includes 10,000 tons of corn, 20 tons of powdered milk, as well as medicine for children and the infirmed, a Unification Ministry official said.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak ended years of unconditional aid to North Korea when his conservative government came to power in 2008, adopting a tougher stand against the Communist regime. The South Korean president first wanted progress on denuclearisation before resuming major assistance. The last shipment of rice in 2007 was valued at about 152 million dollars.

North Korea, which battles chronic food shortages due to years of failing agricultural policy and heavy military spending, made a request to restore rice shipments during talks with Seoul this month on additional reunions of families split after the 1950-53 Korean War.

The United Nations World Food Programme estimates that at least one third of North Korean women and children are malnourished. This year, the country will run short of 1.8 million tons of food.