Reports: N. Korea Agrees to Open Border (so humanitarian aid can be brought in)

Yahoo! News ^ | 4/30/04 | Jae-Suk Yoo - AP

[NormsRevenge]

SEOUL, South Korea -

North Korea (news - web sites) reportedly agreed Friday to open its heavily armed border for relief goods from the South, countering criticism it would rather remain isolated than accept aid for victims of a deadly train explosion.

North Korea's Red Cross sent a telephone message to its South Korean counterpart Friday, saying it would allow South relief trucks to travel to the town of Kaesong just across the countries' border, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.

Other local media carried similar reports. Red Cross and government officials were not available for comment.

In its message, North Korea said it would take over the South Korean trucks loaded with school supplies — including blackboards, desks and chairs — at Kaesong, the reports said.

The suggestion fell short of South Korea (news - web sites)'s demand that its trucks drive the length of the reclusive country to the site of last week's blast near the North Korean border with China. But it was a concession from the North, which had refused to open the border, the world's most fortified buffer zone, for relief goods.

The school supplies are part of a $25 million aid package South Korea agreed to ship to the North. Most of the goods will be delivered by ship.

Earlier Friday, a South Korean cargo plane flew across the border into North Korea for the first time and unloaded $470,000 worth of first-aid kits, blankets and other aid in the airport outside Pyongyang, the North's capital.

The April 22 explosion in the North Korean town of Ryongchon killed 161 people, including 76 children in a nearby school. It also injured 1,300 people and destroyed 8,100 homes.

The disaster is believed to have been sparked by a train laden with oil and chemicals hitting power lines. Nearly 400 victims remained hospitalized — many of them children.

South Korea has been the quickest and most generous provider of international aid. So far, it has sent or pledged $26.5 million in aid, nearly four times the combined total of aid donations from the rest of the world.

The United States, Russia, China, Australia, Germany and Japan also have offered aid.

But the North angered many South Koreans by refusing to open its border and rejecting the South's offer to send doctors to Ryongchon. The Stalinist regime is extremely reluctant to expose its hunger-stricken population to outsiders.

On Friday, KCNA, North Korea's state-run news agency, denied responding passively to outside offers, saying the North had an "advantageous medical system, able medical staff and competent medical institutions."

KCNA also said its military, the backbone of leader Kim Jong Il's totalitarian rule, was quick to respond to the disaster.

"It was ... servicemen who came here first with relief goods," KCNA quoted Han Ki Bok, a 47-year-old coal miner in Ryongchon, as saying. "Our army is, indeed, the best."

Soldiers "rushed to the spot with several tons of rice, quilts, clothes, shoes, kitchen utensils, school things and satchels on the evening of April 22, the very day of the explosion," the news agency said.

[NormsRevenge]

Workers load aid supply kits onto a cargo plane at the Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, Friday, April 30, 2004. South Korean cargo plane left for North Korea (news - web sites) Friday carrying aid materials for victims of last week's train explosion, South Korean officials said Thursday. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon).

[ken5050]

When the DNK finally implodes, what is going to come out of their, records, prisons, etc..will be hard to believe..

[forYourChildrenVote4Bush]

This is what will happen:

- NK opens the doors for aid, they do not say thank you.
- NK closes the doors.
- NK delivers the aid - probably to whoever they want to deliver it to.
- NK keeps delivering vile accusations to the U.S.


I say : Keep your doors closed!

[marlon]

Where's Lil Kim I think he's a crispy critter. No one has seen him since the crash and he was traveling by train that day.

Madeline Halfbright is deeply saddened!

[ken5050]

You could be right..or, at best, he's very nervous...he's in deep kimchee....

[Pearls Before Swine]

In its message, North Korea said it would take over the South Korean trucks

"Thanks for the aid. Thanks for the trucks, too. Get lost!"

I guess that each new load of aid will require a new truck.

[GOP_1900AD]

It's a two way street - I hope we don't get lulled too much..... we need to be on our guard. I would not put it past the DPRK / PRC to use this as a trick, to allow infiltrators easier access to the south.

[AlaskaErik]

In the past, NK has accepted foreign aid, but immediately diverted it to the military instead of its intended recipients. No doubt the casualties that should be receiving this aid will sacrifice it "for the children".