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US flies in aid as storms hit N.Korea
Source: Agencies |
September 5, 2011, Monday
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THE US has provided a small yet symbolic shipment of emergency relief items to flood-hit North Korea, in the latest sign of thawing relations.
Heavy rain and tropical storms have pounded North Korea in the past few months, leaving dozens of people dead or missing and displacing thousands of others. Washington has not responded with food aid, but pledged to provide emergency help for the flooding.
A cargo plane loaded with US$900,000 worth of food, medical aid, soap, blankets and cooking kits touched down at Pyongyang's Sunan airport late on Saturday.
A group of officials from US-based aid group Samaritan's Purse also flew to Pyongyang to watch the aid delivery process.
Melvin Cheatham, special assistant to the president of Samaritan's Purse, said: "It is loaded with medicines, with food items for small children, with water filtration systems, blankets, other emergency relief supplies, for people here (in North Korea), who have been affected by the torrential rains, and the terrible flooding."
Samaritan's Purse said it has pledged US$1.2 million in addition to the US$900,000 the US government has allocated for aid to North Korea through US-based charities.
The agency said it has worked with the US government and Christian organizations to send the aid as they continue trying to gain humanitarian access to North Korea.
Heavy rain can be catastrophic for North Korea due to poor drainage. Flooding in previous years has destroyed crops and pushed the country deeper into poverty. The World Food Program said earlier this year that an estimated 6 million of North Korea's 24 million people would go hungry without help from outside donors.
Heavy rain and tropical storms have pounded North Korea in the past few months, leaving dozens of people dead or missing and displacing thousands of others. Washington has not responded with food aid, but pledged to provide emergency help for the flooding.
A cargo plane loaded with US$900,000 worth of food, medical aid, soap, blankets and cooking kits touched down at Pyongyang's Sunan airport late on Saturday.
A group of officials from US-based aid group Samaritan's Purse also flew to Pyongyang to watch the aid delivery process.
Melvin Cheatham, special assistant to the president of Samaritan's Purse, said: "It is loaded with medicines, with food items for small children, with water filtration systems, blankets, other emergency relief supplies, for people here (in North Korea), who have been affected by the torrential rains, and the terrible flooding."
Samaritan's Purse said it has pledged US$1.2 million in addition to the US$900,000 the US government has allocated for aid to North Korea through US-based charities.
The agency said it has worked with the US government and Christian organizations to send the aid as they continue trying to gain humanitarian access to North Korea.
Heavy rain can be catastrophic for North Korea due to poor drainage. Flooding in previous years has destroyed crops and pushed the country deeper into poverty. The World Food Program said earlier this year that an estimated 6 million of North Korea's 24 million people would go hungry without help from outside donors.
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