South Korea used to send 400,000 tonnes of rice to its impoverished, hungry neighbour every year but suspended the shipments in 2008 because of rising cross-border tensions.

Seoul's conservative government fears any resumption of the aid could see the staple diverted to the North's 1.1-million-strong military, although it allows small amounts of aid to be shipped through the Red Cross or NGOs.

But Ban, who is South Korean himself, told journalists in Seoul that UN agencies had confirmed through inspections earlier this year as many as 6.1 million people faced a "serious humanitarian crisis" in the North.

"As far as humanitarian aid is concerned, political considerations or any other calculations must not be taken into account," Ban said, speaking in his native tongue.

"The most important thing is to save human lives. And even for the sake of overall inter-Korean relations and reconciliation, it is desirable for the South Korean government to consider (aid to the North) positively in forward-looking manner," he said.

Ban said the UN had sent some 35 million dollars worth of aid to North Korea over the past few years.

But he urged the world to expand its food aid to the country, saying that despite some shipments from certain countries, "the international community in general reacted coldly".

Washington is considering aid of its own, which Ban described as "a positive development but in terms of quantity, it fell far short of the need in the North".

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011