South Korea will today urge North Korea to start shutting down its nuclear reactor and offer massive rice aid as an incentive.
The North failed to meet last Saturday's deadline set in a disarmament deal reached at talks in February to start closing its reactor.
"The quick implementation of the February 13th agreement is a shortcut to draw firm international support for inter-Korean economic co-operation," the head of the South's delegation will tell his hosts at economic talks in Pyongyang, according to an advance text.
Officials from South Korea, which was aiming to announce the resumption of rice aid at the meeting, have said Seoul may delay the move until North Korea starts the shutdown and invites UN nuclear inspectors back into the secretive state.
South Korea suspended its regular rice aid - typically 500,000 tonnes a year - in July after Pyongyang defied international warnings and test-fired missiles. The North conducted its first nuclear test some three months later.
North Korea stormed out of the last round of inter-Korean economic talks held a few days after the missile launch in July, angered at Seoul's decision to cut its regular food handouts.
Even with a good rice harvest North Korea still falls about one million tonnes short of the amount required to feed its people, experts said.