After having landmines sent down the Imjim River among a host of other recent provocations by the North Koreans, is it any wonder why the South Korean government isn’t given an open checkbook to the North Koreans:

South Korea has no intention of resuming food aid to North Korea, an official said Monday, a day after the ruling party chief questioned whether the assistance should restart because of recent flooding in the impoverished North.For a decade, South Korea was a major donor of food to its communist neighbor before President Lee Myung-bak’s conservative government halted unconditional assistance after taking office in early 2008. Lee’s government also cut nearly all trade with North Korea after tension spiked over March’s deadly sinking of a South Korean warship blamed on Pyongyang.

The North’s economy is in shambles and the country has relied on outside food aid to feed much of its 24 million people. The North’s chronic food shortage was feared to worsen after flooding from an overflowing river over the weekend swamped farmland, houses and public buildings in the North’s northwestern city of Sinuiju.

Ruling Grand National Party chief Ahn Sang-soo asked the government Sunday whether Seoul should resume food aid to North Korea. Government representatives who took part in the meeting responded they would review the matter, according to a GNP statement.

But the Unification Ministry — which handles relations with North Korea — said Monday it has no immediate plans to resume food aid to North Korea.  [Fox News]