SEOUL, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- South Korea crossed earlier Tuesday the heavily fortified inter-Korean border to deliver hand sanitizers to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to help fight spread of A/H1N1 virus there, the second batch of flu- related aid to the country, the government said.
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| South Korean drivers hang a banner reading "Hand sanitizers to prevent North Korea's swine flu" on his truck before leaving for the DPRK's city of Kaesong at the customs, immigration and quarantine office in Paju, near the border village of Panmunjom, South Korea, Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2010.(Xinhua/AFP Photo) |
The five-member South Korean delegation arrived in the DPRK and will start unloading 200,000 liters of anti-flu sanitizers worth one billion won (867,000 U.S. dollars) for two hours, Seoul's Unification Ministry told Xinhua.
"(South Korea) last year sent Tamiflu to North Korea (the DPRK) as emergency aid. The hand sanitizers we're sending this time are also part of humanitarian assistance. We hope the sanitizers will help stem infectious diseases such as influenza A/H1N1 or prevent it," Kim Young-woo, the head of the delegation, told reporters before leaving.
Local media here say the second batch of humanitarian assistance signifies warming inter-Korean ties that once drastically worsened under President Lee Myung-bak, who made it a point of tying the flow of aid to progress made in the denuclearization process of the DPRK upon taking office two years ago.
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| A South Korean driver hangs a banner reading 'Hand sanitizers to prevent North Korea's swine flu' on his truck before leaving for the DPRK's city of Kaesong at the customs, immigration and quarantine office in Paju, near the border village of Panmunjom, South Korea, Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2010.(Xinhua/AFP Photo) |
The first-ever aid to Pyongyang from the Lee administration came in December last year, when Seoul sent antiviral drugs for about 500,000 people after Pyongyang acknowledged the A/H1N1 flu outbreak in the country and accepted Seoul's offer of medical aid.
