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N.Korea rejects flood aid offer | Quote: | SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North Korea's Red Cross has rejected an offer from its South Korean counterpart for aid to flood victims, a South Korean official said Wednesday, as an aid group claimed the disaster left about 10,000 people dead or missing.
North Korea "expressed thanks for Seoul's offer" but said "it will handle the recovery efforts from recent floods by itself," a senior North Korean Red Cross official said, according to the South Korean Red Cross.
Floods caused by heavy rains in mid-July killed at least 154 North Koreans and left another 127 or more missing, according to the United Nations. North Korea's official media has said the disaster caused hundreds of casualties and cut off roads, bridges, railroads and communications.
However, the Seoul-based Good Friends group, an aid organization for North Korean refugees, said in a statement Wednesday about 10,000 people were dead or missing and some 1.5 million people were left homeless from the floods.
Lee Seung-yong, the group's project coordinator, declined to identify sources for the information, but previous reports of activities inside North Korea from the same group have later been confirmed.
The flooding washed away some 245,000 acres of farmland, putting further strains on the North's ability to feed its 23 million people.
In South Korea, the strong rains last month killed 34 people and left 18 missing.
The North has relied on outside handouts since the mid-1990s following natural disasters and decades of mismanagement. Famine is believed to have killed up to 2 million people in the country.
South Korea, a key provider of rice and fertilizer aid to the North, recently suspended its aid to the North to protest Pyongyang's refusal to discuss its missile launches in early July that drew international condemnation and raised regional tensions.
North Korea strongly protested the South's decision, cutting off government-level exchanges between the two sides. But civilian-level exchanges remain intact, leading the North to seek civilian assistance from the South for flood victims while rejecting the offer of aid from the government-run Red Cross.
The South's Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation, which is composed of civic groups and ruling Uri Party members and partly funded by the government, said it will send relief aid -- mostly flour -- to the North by next weekend.
It refused to give further details, but said it was likely the aid would be accepted.
Separately, JTS Korea, a Seoul-based private relief agency, said Tuesday it would ship emergency goods to the North, including 200 tons of flour, 38,000 packs of instant noodles and 15,000 pieces of clothing, socks and candles, as well as medicines and blankets.
It would be the first South Korean shipment of relief goods to North Korea since the floods, said agency spokeswoman Hyun Hee-ryun, who added that the North itself had specified what kind of supplies it needed -- implying the aid will be accepted.
The first shipment is scheduled to depart Thursday. |
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