Pyongyang receives emergency U.S. flood aid

A shipment of U.S. aid arrived Saturday in North Korea with around 90 metric tons of emergency supplies for the flood-hit nation, the organization conducting the operation said.

“The plane has landed, and the relief supplies are in DPRK,” Todd Shearer, a spokesman for U.S.-based Christian relief group Samaritan’s Purse, told AFP, using the country’s official name.

Impoverished but nuclear-armed North Korea has seen international aid supplies decrease in recent years as tensions on the Korean Peninsula have built up.

The aid delivered Saturday was paid for by the U.S. government, and Washington had said it was to arrive in Pyongyang over the weekend.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said on Friday that the United States “remains deeply concerned about the well-being of the North Korean people, and this humanitarian assistance is not linked to any political or security issues.”

Washington granted $900,000 in funding for the supplies, while Samaritan’s Purse said it furnished $1.2 million for the airlift.

Samaritan’s Purse said the aid includes blankets, plastic sheeting for shelters, hygiene kits, water filtration systems and medical supplies.

North Korean state media said Aug. 5 that floods in the country triggered by torrential rain had killed 30 people and destroyed almost 7,000 houses.

More than 15,000 people were left homeless by the floods, which also inundated 48,000 hectares (120,000 acres) of farmland, “seriously affecting this year’s grain output,” the Korean Central News Agency said.

It added that 350 factories and public buildings also collapsed.

Separately, North Korea has requested overseas food aid and in May invited a U.S. envoy to assess its needs. Relief groups have said North Korea faces imminent shortages, although many U.S. lawmakers have been skeptical.

AFP

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미국 수해 구호물품 북한 도착

미국이 북한에 보내는 긴급 구호물품을 실은 화물기가 3일 평양 순안 국제공항에 도착했다. 미 정부는 지난달 “수해를 입은 북한에 90만 달러(약 10억원) 상당의 구호물품을 지원한다”며 “인도적 지원은 정치·안보적 우려와 분리한다는 입장”이라고 밝혔다.