SEOUL, March 7 (Reuters) - North Korea asked the South on Wednesday for 300,000 tonnes of fertiliser in its first such request in several months, Seoul's unification ministry said. It did not say whether or when it would send the shipment. The request was made a week after both sides agreed at minister-level talks to step up work to remove nuclear weapons from the North and resume reunions of family members separated during the 1950-53 Korean War. The ministry said in a one-sentence statement that the request has been received, but did not elaborate. Seoul has cut off assistance to the North in the wake of Pyongyang's missile tests in July last year. There was no direct mention of resuming aid during last week's meeting in the communist state's capital, held as part of multilateral diplomacy aimed at shutting down the North's nuclear arms programme and improving its standing in the world. South Korea has been a major donor of food and farm aid to the North, shipping as much as 500,000 tonnes of rice and 350,000 tonnes of fertiliser to the impoverished state each year. South Korea has said that resumption of aid depended on tangible progress in Pyongyang's work to shut down its nuclear programmes under a Feb. 13 agreement at international talks with the South, the United States, Japan, Russia and China. South Korean Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung has said that Seoul would now consider aid if there was request from Pyongyang.
