ROK starts flood aid shipment to DPRK
Friday, 24 August 2007
SEOUL, Aug 23 (AFP): South Korea Thursday started trucking emergency aid across the heavily fortified border with North Korea to help the victims of widespread floods in the communist country, officials said.
South Korea has promised to send aid worth 7.1 billion won (7.5 million dollars).
"Trucks packed with instant noodles, drinking water, kitchenware, blankets and medicines crossed the border," a Unification Ministry spokesman told the news agency.
He said 39 trucks were used for the first shipment of assistance to a railway station in the North's border city of Kaesong.
"The government will try to complete the delivery of emergency aid by the end of this month. Then we will consider sending cement and equipment to North Korea," he said.
The reclusive state has reported about 300 people dead or missing after torrential rains earlier this month, 300,000 homeless and 11 per cent of the grain harvest-equivalent to 450,000 tons-lost.
It says factories, mines, roads and railways have been damaged or destroyed across six provinces.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has launched a global appeal for 5.5 million dollars to help an estimated 3.7 million people affected by the floods.
The UN's World Food Programme has announced a three-month programme to feed 215,000 flood victims.
North Korea faced a food shortfall this year of one million tonnes, or 20 per cent of its needs, even before the floods hit. It suffered a famine in the mid to late 1990s which killed hundreds of thousands.
South Korea has promised to send aid worth 7.1 billion won (7.5 million dollars).
"Trucks packed with instant noodles, drinking water, kitchenware, blankets and medicines crossed the border," a Unification Ministry spokesman told the news agency.
He said 39 trucks were used for the first shipment of assistance to a railway station in the North's border city of Kaesong.
"The government will try to complete the delivery of emergency aid by the end of this month. Then we will consider sending cement and equipment to North Korea," he said.
The reclusive state has reported about 300 people dead or missing after torrential rains earlier this month, 300,000 homeless and 11 per cent of the grain harvest-equivalent to 450,000 tons-lost.
It says factories, mines, roads and railways have been damaged or destroyed across six provinces.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has launched a global appeal for 5.5 million dollars to help an estimated 3.7 million people affected by the floods.
The UN's World Food Programme has announced a three-month programme to feed 215,000 flood victims.
North Korea faced a food shortfall this year of one million tonnes, or 20 per cent of its needs, even before the floods hit. It suffered a famine in the mid to late 1990s which killed hundreds of thousands.