Interesting, indeed!
On the other hand, friends help their friends, and since Syria is their friend, it makes sense that Syria would offer to help the DPRK, even if it were a natural disaster.
Also, dictatorships often accept aid in a particular order, preferring not to accept aid from enemy countries unless absolutely necessary. So, they would accept aid from China and Syria before accepting aid from the US.
After the earthquake in Bam, Iran, (sometime around the San Simeon earthquake in CA, which occurred a few days before Christmas in 2003), Iran accepted aid from everyone -- even the US -- except Israel.
This is true. China was right in there near helping out, time elapsed, days later, South Korea was able to bring relief efforts into North Korea.