By Kim Young-jin
North Korea has agreed to hold talks with South Korean NGOs to discuss the provision of flood aid, officials said Thursday.
The first such meeting, pending approval from the Ministry of Unification, could come on Friday in Pyongyang and involve the Korea NGO Council for Cooperation with North Korea (KNCCNK).
Pyongyang’s National Reconciliation Council agreed to the meeting via fax in response to an inquiry by the KNCCNK. The organization is an umbrella for 51 local aid groups.
The group hopes to mobilize relief to the North by next month before the Chuseok holiday, also known as Korean Thanksgiving, on Sept. 30. Officials said the government was positively considering the move.
The official said the Foundation of Inter-Korea Cooperation and Okedongmu Children in Korea had applied for visits next week.
The trips would entail the first talks over aid between Pyongyang and South Korean groups because the North was slammed with floods this summer that reportedly killed hundreds and left tens of thousands homeless.
Seoul has yet to announce any government aid to the North but says it is monitoring the situation.
Pyongyang, which suffers from poor infrastructure and deforestation, frequently requests aid after downpours. Providing help, however, has been tricky for the government since the North’s two deadly attacks in 2010, after which Seoul levied sanctions.
The measures initially included NGOs but the administration has since allowed the groups to provide flour, medicine and other aid on a case-by-case basis.
Cross-border tensions have continued under North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who took over in December, as the regime still hurls rhetoric at the conservative Lee Myung-bak government.
Last summer Seoul offered to send medicine and basic necessities such as blankets and instant noodles, but Pyongyang rejected the package, requesting cement and other food stuffs instead.
The international community remains concerned that certain supplies such as rice are diverted to the North’s military.