Humanitarian aid to North Korea has not been helpful in achieving the broader goal of “peaceful unification,” South Korea’s unification minister Kim Yung-ho said during a plenary session Tuesday.

His remarks come amid major organizational changes in his ministry, including the largest budget cuts in a decade, that refocus resources away from inter-Korean cooperation and dialogue and toward human rights issues.

“So far, the humanitarian aid provided to North Korea has had limitations in achieving the goal of peaceful unification based on a liberal democratic order — through transforming North Korea in the right direction — that our government aims