South Korea has significantly reduced import quotas for eight North Korean agricultural goods amid the enforcement of strong UN economic sanctions on the communist nation.

According to a public notice posted by the Unification Ministry, the amount of six North Korean goods allowed to be shipped to the country, including crab, shrimp and peanut products, have been reduced to half from those of last year.

An official at the ministry, Seoul's key office on North Korean affairs, said the move had little to do with the UN sanctions that were imposed shortly after the North's second nuclear detonation test last year.

"The items, whose import quotas have been reduced this year, are the ones we had little imports of in the past five years," the official said, asking not to be identified. "The change was only to reflect the actual amount of imports."