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South Korea offers humanitarian aid to flood-hit North Korea
- Heavy rains flooded houses, agricultural fields, public buildings, structures, roads and railways in the northwestern city of Sinuiju
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South Korea on Thursday offered to send aid supplies to North Korea to help the country recover from heavy rains and floods that submerged thousands of homes and huge swathes of farmland.
It’s unclear whether North Korea would accept South Korea’s proposal for help. Animosity between the war-divided rivals is at its highest in years over the North’s growing nuclear ambitions and the South’s expansion of combined military exercises with the United States and Japan to counter the North’s threats.
South Korea’s unification ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, said the South was willing to swiftly provide supplies to address the “humanitarian difficulties” facing North Korean residents following the recent storms. The ministry in a statement urged North Korea’s Red Cross to promptly respond to its calls for discussions to determine the types and amounts of South Korean supplies and how to deliver them.
North Korea did not immediately respond to the South’s offer.
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North Korean state media said on Wednesday that recent heavy rains left 4,100 houses, 7,410 acres of agricultural fields and numerous other public buildings, structures, roads and railways flooded in the northwestern city of Sinuiju and the neighbouring town of Uiju.
The North has not reported details about casualties.
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In an emergency Politburo meeting on Wednesday in Sinuiju, leader Kim Jong-un asked authorities to “strictly punish” those who he said neglected their responsibilities for disaster prevention and caused “even the casualty that cannot be allowed”, according to the North’s Korean Central News Agency.
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