SEOUL, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- South Korea will announce its humanitarian food aid plan for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) as early as this week, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported Sunday.

    The government will likely notify Pyongyang of details of the aid plan next week, including the concrete types and quantities of the food, Yonhap said, citing anonymous government sources.

    However the sources revealed that the aid is expected to consist of 10,000 tons to 30,000 tons of corn.

    The DPRK requested further humanitarian aid from South Korea during inter-Korean Red Cross talks on family reunions on Oct. 16.

    If the plan is announced, it will be the first direct humanitarian food aid from Seoul to Pyongyang since South Korea's conservative government led by Lee Myung-bak took office in February 2008.

    The country's Unification Minister Hyun In-taek on Friday said the government is considering to limitedly resume humanitarian aid to the DPRK in the near future.

    During a parliamentary audit, Hyun told lawmakers that "a minimum amount of humanitarian aid will be initiated in the near future" as the DPRK is undergoing a food shortage.

    South Korea has provided rice and fertilizers to the DPRK under a "Sunshine Policy" adopted during terms of former Presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun. But the current government halted the aid as it came to power last year, taking a tougher approach on the DPRK's nuclear issue.