Three private aid groups were given approval for their plans to send aid goods to North Korea, Seoul's Unification Ministry said Monday.

The ministry said it gave permission to three small private groups, including "Toward Peace in Korea," to ship a total of 200 million won ($181,077) worth of food, nutritional supplements and other aid goods to nurseries and hospitals in the North.

The goods will be shipped via either China or the land border between the two countries, it said.

Cross-border shipments of goods or trips by South Koreans require the ministry's approval since the countries are technically at war. The 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not in a peace treaty.

The South Korean government also offered to provide relief aid goods to the North in September, but the North rejected the offer, protesting the amount and types of goods Seoul proposed. (Yonhap News)