South Korea Ready To Provide North Korean Flood Assistance

UNSPLASH/Daniel Bernard ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - South Korea is ready to provide aid to North Korea for the recent damage caused by heavy rains.

This offer is a rare effort under President Yoon Suk Yeol's administration to his neighboring country.

As reported by Reuters, authorities in South Korea are ready to discuss the supply of aid needed, scale of aid, and how to distribute it and look forward to a quick response from Pyongyang, South Korea's Red Cross said.

The statement was issued by the Ministry of Unification of South Korea which handles inter-Korean affairs. The Red Cross leads the project implementation between the two Koreas that have competed in the past, including separate family reunions and assistance provision.

As previously reported, heavy rains have hit North Korea's northwest in recent days, flooding more than 4,000 houses in the Sinuiju and Uiju regions.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected the flood-hit area and expressed deep concern over the damage.

The region has been hit by heavy rains from Tropical Storm Gaemi in recent days, which caused landslides that killed 12 people in southern China and flash floods in other areas.

There is a possibility of a significant "human victim" in North Korea, an Unification Ministry official said on Thursday, August 1.

South Korea's Chosun TV reported more than 1,100 people and as many as 1,500 people were killed or missing, citing an unnamed government official.

North Korean state media said there were ongoing efforts in the capital to prevent flooding in the Taedong River flowing through Pyongyang.

The aid offer comes as relations between the two Koreas, which are technically still in a state of war, become tense amid Yoon's government's hardline stance on North Korea.

Since late May, both sides have been involved in tensions over the launch of balloons that brought garbage to North Korea and Seoul responded with propaganda broadcasts on the border, angering North Korea. It is unclear if Pyongyang will respond to this.