news S. Korea exploring ways to help ease food shortage in N. Korea (ATTN: ADDS photo, byline) By Koh Byung-joon SEOUL, Feb. 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea is exploring various ways to provide food and fertilizer to North Korea in humanitarian assistance as Pyongyang is believed to be faced with worsening food shortages, the unification ministry said Friday. On Thursday, Unification Minister Lee In-young told lawmakers that the North appears to be faced with a food shortage of about 1.2 million to 1.3 million tons this year mainly due to damage from last year's heavy downpours. "Our position remains the same that humanitarian issues such as food shortages should be dealt with regardless of political and military situations," Lee Jong-joo, the ministry's spokesperson, told a regular press briefing.