North Korea invited representatives of an association of South Korean charity groups to Pyongyang, an association official said Tuesday, the first such invitation since the two Koreas exchanged fire near their tense sea border last year.

North Korea sent the invitation to the Korea NGO Council for Cooperation, a collaboration of some 50 non-governmental aid groups, suggesting a meeting in its capital city to discuss aid from Wednesday through Saturday, Park Hyun-seok, secretary general of the association, said.

The association and North Korea have been discussing a visit by South Korean aid officials to the North Korean provinces to monitor distribution of 250 tons of flour it sent last month, he added.

The invitation comes as a visiting U.N. humanitarian official urged donor nations to set aside politics and provide North Korea with financial assistance, noting the worsening food situation and malnutrition among ordinary North Koreans.

Seoul’s Unification Ministry, which handles affairs with Pyongyang, said it cannot approve of the aid officials’ visit as food monitoring was not included in the purpose of the visit.

Taking a tough position against North Korea since its inauguration in 2008, South Korea’s rightwing Lee Myung-bak government halted aid at the government level following Pyongyang’s two deadly naval attacks in March and November last year. The attacks killed 50 South Koreans.

The North has relied on outside aid to feed its population of 24 million since the late 1990s when it suffered a massive famine that killed an estimated 2 million people.

By Shin Hae-in (hayney@heraldcorp.com)