SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea has increased its budget to fund North Korea-related projects this year, government data showed on Thursday, with a new president seeking closer relations due to take office in Seoul and signs of an opening from Pyongyang.
The two Koreas remain technically at war after their 1950-53 conflict ended with a truce, not a treaty, and relations plunged under South Korean President Lee Myung-bak who cut aid dramatically after the shooting of a South Korean tourist in the North in 2008.
Lee's single term ends in February when he will be replaced by Park Geun-hye, who has pledged engagement with the isolated and impoverished North, whose new leader Kim Jong-un signaled a desire for better ties in a speech on New Year's Day.
South Korea's Ministry of Unification said parliament had approved a 9.1 percent rise in the inter-Korean cooperation fund this year to 1.1 trillion won ($1.03 billion).
"The last offer for talks we made to North Korea was last summer, when the North was suffering from flood damage," said Park Soo-jin, a spokeswoman for the ministry.
South Korea budgets for sunnier ties with reclusive North - Read Full Story at World-Reuters
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