S. Korea's Red Cross to collect medicine donations for N. Korea aid

By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, Nov. 4 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's Red Cross will meet with local
pharmaceutical companies on Wednesday to appeal for donations of medical aid to
the North, as part of humanitarian assistance expected to be shipped within
weeks.
The medical aid was part of an offer the government made to North Korea on Oct.
26, along with 10,000 tons of corn and 20 tons of powdered milk. The small-scale
assistance, when delivered, will be the first state-level aid to the North in
nearly two years.
North Korea has yet to respond to the offer, but Seoul officials said they
understand there is a consensus, as Pyongyang had requested aid from Seoul during
inter-Korean Red Cross talks in earlier October.
"The North side has yet to reply, but it'd be difficult to get the preparations
done after there is an answer," Song Soon-hwa, a Red Cross spokeswoman, said.
Song said the Red Cross will ask representatives from 17 pharmaceutical companies
about what type and quantity of medicine they can give.
North Korea's Red Cross had previously asked for mostly antibiotics, nutrients
and fluids to help operate its hospitals in Pyongyang. Such donated medicine
worth 14.2 billion (US$12 billion) was sent between 2004 and 2008.
The South Korean Red Cross said it will also receive donations of powdered milk
from non-governmental organizations. Only the corn aid will be purchased with
funds from the Unification Ministry's inter-Korean cooperation budget.
The conservative Lee Myung-bak government halted state-level aid to North Korea
as it came to power last year, conditioning inter-Korean exchanges on progress
toward Pyongyang's denuclearization.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)