By Yi Whan-woo
South Korea has offered condolences to North Korea over a deadly collapse of an apartment building in Pyongyang, the government said Tuesday.
"We expressed our deep condolences over the loss of many lives in the accident in a message sent by the Korean Red Cross," the Ministry of Unification said. It added the Seoul office of the Red Cross delivered its message to its Pyongyang counterpart through a dialogue channel at Panmunjum on the inter-Korean border.
The message was sent after North Korea reported that a 23-floor apartment building in its capital collapsed, Sunday. It was noted that 92 families may have been living there and the accident claimed an unspecified number of casualties.
Both Koreas have conveyed condolences to each other when similar accidents have taken place in the past. For instance, Pyongyang delivered words of sympathy in the wake of the sinking of the Sewol ferry on April 16 that left over 300 passengers dead or missing.
The Ministry of Unification said the issuing of condolences to the North was solely a humanitarian gesture, in response to speculation that it was sent in hopes of improving inter-Korean ties.
"It would be over-interpreting to say there were other intentions implied in the message," the ministry said.
It added the message did not contain any proposals for relief efforts.
"The North has not requested any relief efforts to international humanitarian organizations, and such efforts should be preceded by figuring out the exact number of casualties," it said. "It's possible there were about 400 people living at the building considering each household had up to five family members. But the number of people killed could be less because the accident took place during the daytime when most of the residents were on off at work."
South Korea has offered condolences to North Korea over a deadly collapse of an apartment building in Pyongyang, the government said Tuesday.
"We expressed our deep condolences over the loss of many lives in the accident in a message sent by the Korean Red Cross," the Ministry of Unification said. It added the Seoul office of the Red Cross delivered its message to its Pyongyang counterpart through a dialogue channel at Panmunjum on the inter-Korean border.
The message was sent after North Korea reported that a 23-floor apartment building in its capital collapsed, Sunday. It was noted that 92 families may have been living there and the accident claimed an unspecified number of casualties.
Both Koreas have conveyed condolences to each other when similar accidents have taken place in the past. For instance, Pyongyang delivered words of sympathy in the wake of the sinking of the Sewol ferry on April 16 that left over 300 passengers dead or missing.
The Ministry of Unification said the issuing of condolences to the North was solely a humanitarian gesture, in response to speculation that it was sent in hopes of improving inter-Korean ties.
"It would be over-interpreting to say there were other intentions implied in the message," the ministry said.
It added the message did not contain any proposals for relief efforts.
"The North has not requested any relief efforts to international humanitarian organizations, and such efforts should be preceded by figuring out the exact number of casualties," it said. "It's possible there were about 400 people living at the building considering each household had up to five family members. But the number of people killed could be less because the accident took place during the daytime when most of the residents were on off at work."
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