No rice to people 'who fire a cannon'

South Korea will not give rice to North Korea unless the North acknowledges its provocations, a South Korean minister said in Beijing Monday."We cannot give rice to people who fire a cannon," Unification Minister Yu Woo-ik told South Koreans living in the Chinese capital.Yu said the aid cannot be offered until North Korea "acknowledges its wrongdoing in committing the provocations," and gives assurances there will not be similar acts in the future, the Yonhap News Agency reported.South Korea has blamed North Korea for the sinking of a South Korean warship that killed 46 sailors last year. The North denied attacking the ship.In another incident last year, the Communist country shelled a South Korean island, killing four South Koreans.South Korea suspended unconditional aid to the impoverished North in 2008 and imposed sanctions after the 2010 incidents.The South has, however, selectively allowed religious and private aid groups to deliver humanitarian and medical assistance to North Korea, Yonhap said.The minister also called on North Korea to abandon its nuclear programs.Yu's Beijing visit is part of various efforts to resume the long-stalled six-nation talks on ending North Korea's nuclear weapons program. The six nations are the two Koreas, China, Russia, Japan and United States.