hankyoreh

South Korea decided Friday to provide 37.4 billion won (US$40 million) worth of cement and heavy equipment in extra aid to help North Korea recover from flood damage, Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung said.

"At a meeting of relevant ministers presided over by the prime minister, we decided to give cement, iron bars, trucks, fuel, road restoration equipment and pitch to North Korea at the earliest possible time," Lee said in a weekly press briefing.

Lee said it will cost up to 10 billion won to arrange for the aid and the delivery will be made starting from mid-September. The aid will consist of 100,000 tons of cement, 5,000 tons of iron bars, 80 trucks, 500 tons of gasoline, 20 road restoration vehicles and 20,000 tons of pitch.

The decision comes a day after South Korea made the first delivery of 7.1 billion won ($7.5 million) worth of emergency aid to North Korea to help the communist country cope with the damage.

About 40 truckloads of instant noodles, blankets, emergency kits and mineral water were delivered to the border town of Kaesong via a reconnected road in the western section of the Korean Peninsula. The aid shipment will be completed by the end of this month. Devastating floods are believed to have destroyed about 14 percent of the North's farmland, South Korean officials said.

South Korea, other countries and international agencies are extending a helping hand to the North.

The number of dead and missing is estimated at more than 300, with the homeless numbering about 300,000. An estimated 46,580 homes of 88,400 families were destroyed or damaged, according to the North's media.

The severe flood damage caused the two Koreas to postpone their second summit, originally scheduled for late this month, until early October. Their leaders are to meet Oct. 2-4 in Pyongyang.
SEOUL, Aug. 24 (Yonhap News)