SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea on Tuesday authorized the World Health Organization to resume the distribution of medical aid to North Korea, financed by the South Korean government, amid growing international calls for assistance for malnourished North Korean children.

The decision “was based upon our belief that purely humanitarian support for the young and vulnerable in North Korea should continue,” a senior South Korean Unification Ministry official told reporters on Tuesday during a briefing given on the condition of anonymity.

In 2009, South Korea donated $13 million for a W.H.O. program to send medicine and medical supplies to the North. But it asked the United Nations agency to suspend the distribution of the money after the March 2010 sinking of a South Korean warship, the Cheonan. South Korea says the North torpedoed the ship, killing 46 sailors, an accusation North Korea rejects.

On Tuesday, the Unification Ministry accepted the W.H.O.’s request to distribute the remaining South Korean money, totaling about $7 million, the official said.