South Korea offers humanitarian aid to flood-hit North Korea

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In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspects a flood-hit area in Sinuiju city, North Phyongan province, North Korea Monday, July 29, 2024. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: “KCNA” which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

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This undated photo provided on Wednesday, July 31, 2024 by the North Korean government, shows a flood-hit area in Sinuiju city, North Phyongan province, North Korea. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: “KCNA” which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

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By KIM TONG-HYUNG

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea on Thursday offered to send aid supplies to North Korea to help the country recover from heavy rains and floods that submerged thousands of homes and huge swaths of farmland.

It’s unclear whether North Korea would accept South Korea’s proposal for help. Animosity between the war-divided rivals is at its highest in years over the North’s growing nuclear ambitions and the South’s expansion of combined military exercises with the United States and Japan to counter the North’s threats.

South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, said the South was willing to swiftly provide supplies to address the “humanitarian difficulties” facing North Korean residents following the recent storms. The ministry in a statement urged North Korea’s Red Cross to promptly respond to its calls for discussions to determine the types and amounts of South Korean supplies and how to deliver them.

North Korea didn’t immediately respond to the South’s offer.

North Korean state media said Wednesday that recent heavy rains left 4,100 houses, 7,410 acres of agricultural fields and numerous other public buildings, structures, roads and railways flooded in the northwestern city of Sinuiju and the neighboring town of Uiju.

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The North has not reported details about casualties.

In an emergency Politburo meeting on Wednesday in Sinuiju, leader Kim Jong Un asked authorities to “strictly punish” those who he said neglected their responsibilities for disaster prevention and caused “even the casualty that can not be allowed,” according to the North’s Korean Central News Agency.

North Korea has suspended virtually all cooperation and diplomacy with the South after its larger nuclear negotiations with the United States derailed in 2019 over disagreements on lifting crippling U.S.-led sanctions and the North’s steps to wind down its nuclear and missile program.

The North had also rejected South Korea’s offers for help while battling a COVID-19 outbreak in 2022.

Tensions between the rivals have worsened since 2022 as Kim used Russia’s war on Ukraine as a distraction to further accelerate the expansion of his nuclear arsenal and issued belligerent threats toward Washington and Seoul.

KIM TONG-HYUNG

Kim has been covering the Koreas for the AP since 2014. He has published widely read stories on North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, the dark side of South Korea’s economic rise and international adoptions of Korean children.