South Korea appears ready to ramp up its humanitarian assistance to North Korea after their leaders exchanged conciliatory signals in their New Year messages, renewing hopes for reconciliation.

A civic group here secured the Unification Ministry’s endorsement to ship 20 tons of sweet potatoes worth 52 million won ($47,000) late last month to the northeastern border city of Sinuiju, while another organization is gearing up to send nutritional food and medical kits soon.

They are part of health, agriculture and farming projects totaling 3 billion won to be operated by 13 groups with the support of an inter-Korean cooperation fund this year.

The plans mark the first withdrawal from the fund in five years to provide humanitarian assistance to the impoverished neighbor through nongovernmental organizations.

Along with cement and heavy equipment, grains such as flour remain sensitive items due to concerns that the communist regime may divert them for military and other unintended uses. Seoul’s last offer, for 1,000 tons of corn, was made in October 2010 to help the victims of massive floods.

The sweet potato case gained traction as it involved raw food. But the ministry dismissed the concern, saying the assistance was approved solely for humanitarian purposes.

“The sweet potatoes are given with the aim of making nourishing meals for infants in Sinuiju. Accordingly, we think that it is not appropriate to regard this as a grain handout,” ministry spokesman Lim Byeong-cheol told a regular news briefing.

“Things like rice are a different matter because refined rice can be stored for a long time, which explains what the government considers to be grain support.”

Pyongyang has apparently been stepping up its peace offensive since leader Kim Jong-un displayed his willingness to hold a summit with South Korea and put cross-border relations back on track in his New Year address.

President Park Geun-hye has also pledged to make “substantive preparations” to help bring forward unification ahead of the 70th anniversary of the peninsula’s liberation and division.

Last week, Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae proposed high-level inter-Korean talks to discuss the issues of separated families, humanitarian aid, economic cooperation and joint projects.

Though crop yields have reportedly risen over the past few years, the North faces daunting challenges in feeding its 24 million people as global aid has dried up in the face of growing concerns over the regime’s nuclear program and dire human rights record.

In 2014, $51.4 million was channeled into humanitarian programs in the North, chiefly run by U.N. agencies and European countries, the Voice of America reported last week, citing data by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and World Food Program. The sum represents about an 18 percent fall from the previous year and 70 percent of it was spent on nutritional support.

Seoul appears to have grown more open to greater humanitarian assistance since Park vowed an increase in aid and proposed a joint agricultural complex in her speech in Dresden, Germany, last March.

On the state level, the ministry unveiled plans in August to funnel $13.3 million to help fight acute malnutrition among babies and mothers in North Korea in partnership with the WFP and World Health Organization. The “1,000 days” project is designed to provide health care to some 2.4 million women and their children up to age 2.

By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)