Via The Korea Herald: Seoul to send flu aid to N. Korea on Friday. Excerpt:
The South Korean government said yesterday it will send drugs to treat the H1N1 influenza virus this Friday to the North Korean border town of Gaeseong.
“Liaison officials from the South and North agreed that we will deliver Tamiflu for 400,000 people and Relenza for 100,000 people on Dec. 18,” Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung said.
“Eight refrigerated trucks will carry the antiviral drugs to Gaeseong. Experts including doctors will also travel across the border to advise on the application of the medication.”
To ensure transparent distribution, the North agreed to inform the South later of how the medicine was parceled out, he said.
Seoul also plans to provide hand sanitizers worth 1 billion won ($863,000) to the North as soon as it completes the purchase.
The South is undergoing procedures to seek a relevant council’s approval on the use of 17.8 billion won for the flu aid from the budget for inter-Korean cooperation.
The provision of antiviral drugs will be the first direct humanitarian aid to the North by the South Korean government after President Lee Myung-bak took office early last year.
Seoul has so far spent only 0.9 percent of this year’s budget set aside for humanitarian aid to the North in subsidies to nongovernmental aid groups. A drastically reduced budget of 7.2 billion won was allotted to selected aid groups.
North Korea said last Wednesday that it confirmed nine cases of H1N1 infection in Pyongyang and Sinuiju. The acknowledgement came a day after the president ordered his government to verify news reports on the H1N1 flu outbreak in the North and promptly provide assistance.
