SEOUL, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea gave no response to South Korea's offer to hold working- level talks on how to help Pyongyang stop the spread of foot-and- mouth disease, which has swept over the northern neighbor, Seoul' s Unification Ministry said Wednesday.
Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Eui-do made the remarks during the routine press briefing, saying that Seoul will take necessary actions in accordance with Pyongyang's response.
Seoul proposed Monday morning to provide aid to Pyongyang to help contain the first outbreak of the infectious animal disease in around three years.
The DPRK's official news agency KCNA reported last Friday that a foot-and-mouth disease broke out at a pig farm in Pyongyang on Jan. 8 and has spread to 17 units in Pyongyang and the North Hwanghae Province.
The O-type disease infected about 3,200 pigs, among which 360 died and 2,900 were destroyed. The outbreak of the disease, which affects cloven-hoofed animals, was the first since April 2011 in the DPRK.
Kim said that detailed damages from the disease and shortages of disinfectants should be informed through the working-level talks, noting the government was preparing for the possible DPRK call for vaccines and disinfection equipments.
The spokesman said South Korea was expecting the DPRK to reply to the aid offer after internal review.
Seoul's aid offer came amid thawing signs of inter-Korean relations. The two Koreas held the first reunion of war-divided families in more than three years in the DPRK's Mount Kumgang resort for six days through Tuesday.
The humanitarian event was held as scheduled because the DPRK agreed to it despite the launch of annual South Korea-U.S. war games, which began on the date overlapping with the family reunion.
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