SEOUL- South Korea will send a list of proposed relief aid to flood-stricken North Korea and hold talks on reuniting families separated by war six decades ago, the government said, in signs of easing tension on the divided peninsula. An overflowing river last month swamped farmland, houses and public buildings in the North's northwestern city of Sinuiju and adjacent areas. State media reported the region was "severely affected" by the flooding, though details of the damage remain unknown. North Korea observers fear the flooding worsened the country's chronic food shortages. The North has relied on foreign food aid since natural disasters and mismanagement devastated its economy in the mid-1990s and led to a famine estimated to have killed as many as 2 million people. On Sunday, South Korea's Unification Ministry said it plans to forward a list of aid it is willing to send to the North, including rice and cement, spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo said. Heavy equipment that North Korea also requested will not be delivered over concerns it may be used for military purposes, she said. The Unification Ministry, which oversees relations with the North, did not indicate when it would deliver the assistance. The Yonhap news agency, citing an unidentified South Korean official, said the South would begin sending the aid unless North Korea rejects the list. Relations between the Koreas plummeted to their lowest level in years following the sinking in March of a South Korean warship that killed 46 sailors. South Korea blames the sinking on North Korea, which denies any involvement. Ties have shown signs of improvement since late last month when South Korea offered 10 billion won ($8.5 million) in aid to help the North recover from the flooding. North Korea later freed seven crew members of a South Korean fishing boat seized weeks ago, and offered to discuss a new round of reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War. More than 20,800 families have been briefly reunited through face-to-face meetings or by video following a landmark inter-Korean summit in 2000. The program stalled a year ago amid deteriorating ties. Lee said South Korea will ask for regular reunions, rather than one-time meetings offered by the North. Millions of families remain separated following the Korean peninsula's division in 1945 and the ensuing Korean War, which ended with a cease-fire, not a peace treaty. There are no mail, telephone or e-mail exchanges between ordinary citizens in the two Koreas.
