By Jon Herskovitz

SEOUL, March 28 (Reuters) - South Korea restarted flood-relief aid for North Korea on Wednesday, almost six months after its impoverished neighbour's defiant nuclear test.

A South Korean Red Cross official said the one-off aid package, which includes rice, blankets and construction material, was aimed at helping the country deal with flooding last July that a pro-Pyongyang newspaper said had killed hundreds.

Relations between the two Koreas, chilled by Pyongyang's nuclear test and missile tests last year, have improved since the North's pledge in February at international talks to start shutting down its nuclear arms programme.

The Koreas held their first high-level meeting in about seven months after February's six-country deal, and said they would re-start frozen inter-Korean projects.

On Tuesday Seoul resumed its fertiliser aid to the North, which is battling chronic food shortages, and is likely to resume its annual aid of 500,000 tonnes of rice soon.

Yonhap news agency said that former South Korean unification minister Chung Dong-young went to North Korea on Wednesday to propose holding a second summit meeting of the leaders of the two countries, which are still technically at war.

South Korea's aid to the North has become a politically charged topic ahead of presidential elections due in December. The most popular candidates have criticised the government for giving too much to Pyongyang for too little in return.

Critics have also long called on Seoul to make more checks on the food it provides to the North to make sure it does not end up in the hands of the country's powerful military.

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