Yonhap
Sohn Suk-joo
8/23/2007
South Korea made Thursday the first delivery of 7.1 billion won ($7.5 million) worth of emergency aid to North Korea to help the communist country recover from flood damage, officials said.
About 40 truckloads of instant noodles, blankets, emergency kits and mineral water were delivered to the border town of Kaesong via a reconnected road in the western section of the Korean Peninsula. The aid shipment will be completed by the end of this month.
On Tuesday, Pyongyang requested more help from the South, and the Seoul government is considering what to offer in response to the North’s plea for construction materials and heavy equipment, they said.
Devastating floods are believed to have destroyed a revised 14 percent of the North’s farmland, South Korean officials said. South Korea, other countries and international agencies are extending a helping hand to the North.
The number of dead and missing is estimated at more than 300, with the homeless numbering about 300,000. An estimated 46,580 homes of 88,400 families were destroyed or damaged, according to the North’s media.
“The total damage would be 10 times more than that of last summer in terms of money,” Cho Yong-nam, chief of North Korea’s flood damage control committee, said in an interview with the Choson Sinbo, a Japan-based pro-North Korean newspaper which usually reflects the views of the communist country.
The severe flood damage caused the two Koreas to postpone their second summit, originally scheduled for late this month, until early October. Their leaders are to meet Oct. 2-4 in Pyongyang.
According to North Korean officials, the expressway linking Pyongyang and Kaesong has been damaged by the heavy flooding, interfering with transportation. Roh plans to travel to Pyongyang via the overland route, and South Korean officials expressed hope that the expressway will be repaired before the summit takes place.
