South offers North humanitarian aid in wake of devastating floods

South Korea offered aid to North Korea as the country grapples with the fallout from massive flooding in its northern regions.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, left, rides in a lifeboat to inspect flood-hit areas in North Korea's border city of Sinuiju in this photo carried by Pyongyang's state-controlled Korean Central News Agency on Wednesday. [YONHAP]

South Korea offered aid to North Korea as the isolated regime grapples with the fallout from massive flooding in its northern regions.

The announcement, made via the South Korean Red Cross, marks Seoul's first offer of flood relief to Pyongyang in 12 years.

"We are willing to promptly provide urgently needed supplies to the North Korean disaster victims from a humanitarian and compatriotic standpoint," said Park Jong-sul, secretary general of the South's Red Cross, during a press briefing on Thursday afternoon.

South Korea's last flood aid package to the North was delivered in 2010 and comprised of supplies worth 7.2 billion won ($5.2 million), including rice, instant noodles and cement. Although similar offers of assistance were made in 2011 and 2012, North Korea rejected them.

"We are ready to negotiate with the North Korean Red Cross Central Committee regarding the items, scale and method of support," Park added.

Past cooperation between the Koreas on some issues, such as reunions for families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, was organized by their respective Red Cross societies.

According to the Unification Ministry’s data, which relied partially on reports carried by the North’s state media, around 4,100 houses and 3,000 plots of farmland in North Pyongan, Jagang and Ryanggang provinces have been flooded after torrential rain that fell on July 27.

Comparisons of satellite images taken in May and photos of the same areas released by the state-controlled Rodong Sinmun newspaper earlier in the week show swollen rivers have inundated normally dry fields along their banks, transforming slightly elevated areas into islands.

Although the South Korean Red Cross made the announcement, the offer of aid relies mainly on support from the government.

"If the aid is accepted, the funding will come from the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund," an official from the Ministry of Unification told reporters on condition of anonymity after the briefing. "We are considering direct support rather than through international organizations."

The official said the South Korean government is open to all forms of consultation, including face-to-face, written and talks in a third-party country.

"We are considering supplying emergency aid such as food and medicine for displaced people," the official said, adding that the South's assistance package would be finalized through talks if the North responds positively to the proposal.

The official noted that the offer of aid was announced through the media due to the absence of a direct communication channel between the two Koreas that began in April, noting that the South Korean government "hopes for a positive response from the North without presuming the outcome.”

Photos carried by Pyongyang's state-controlled Korean Central News Agency on Wednesday show areas along the Yalu River submerged after torrential downpours last week. [NEWS1]

This is the second public offer of humanitarian aid to North Korea by the Yoon Suk Yeol administration.

Shortly after Yoon took office in May 2022, Seoul's Unification Ministry proposed providing 1.67 billion won worth of food and medical supplies to help Pyongyang with its response to Covid-19. However, the North rejected the offer.

Despite North Korea's continuing refusal to engage in inter-Korean dialogue, the ministry official emphasized that the South has "always been open to addressing humanitarian crises."

"Considering the significant damage implied by North Korean state media reports, we decided to offer aid from a humanitarian standpoint," he said.

But editorials from North Korean state media suggest that the regime may not accept aid from the South.

In an English language editorial published Thursday, the Rodong Sinmun said the regime's officials and workers "are devoting all [they have] to provide relief to flood victims," adding that "such assistance shows how our independent style of socialism can overcome all difficulties single-handedly."

The offer of aid from the South Korean Red Cross came a day after Roland Kupka, Unicef’s interim representative to the North, told Radio Free Asia that “discussions are ongoing with the [North Korean] government on the use of supplies, which are ready to be used at the government’s request.”

The North has not made public the number of casualties from recent flooding, but the state-controlled Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Wednesday that leader Kim Jong-un had replaced his public security minister and the chief secretaries of the North Pyongan and Jagang provincial committees at an emergency meeting of the ruling Workers' Party Politburo held in the city of Sinuiju, which borders China.

The KCNA said Kim visited flood-stricken Sinuiju and Uiju County in North Pyongan Province on Sunday and directed military operations to rescue around 5,000 residents.

Kim also “proposed strict punishment for those who neglected the solemn duties assigned by the Party and the state” and allowed casualties to occur, according to the KCNA.

BY SEO JI-EUN, MICHAEL LEE [seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr]