S. Korea sends antiviral drugs to N. Korea

(ATTN: CLARIFIES amount of drugs for 500,000 people, hand sanitizer aid in 8th para)
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, Dec. 18 (Yonhap) -- South Korea sent H1N1 flu medications for 500,000
people to North Korea on Friday in the first state-level humanitarian assistance
to its impoverished neighbor in nearly two years.
North Korea acknowledged on Dec. 9 that it had nine domestic cases of the
Influenza A virus infection, which has already claimed the lives of over 140
people in South Korea.
The shipment of Tamiflu and Relenza worth US$15 million was transported over the
military demarcation line to the North's border town of Kaesong via refrigerated
trucks at around 9:20 a.m., Unification Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo said.
According to the World Health Organization, the North's Health Ministry reported
that the nine patients -- all schoolchildren aged between 11 and 14 -- have
recovered and no additional cases have been reported.
But Seoul expressed doubt over the credibility of the report.
"Our judgment is that there are various kinds of information with regard to the
credibility (about the report) that there have been no new flu patients in
addition to the nine people," Lee said at a press briefing on Thursday.
Another senior ministry official said at a background briefing, "Judging from
various bits of intelligence, the new flu appears to be spreading in North
Korea."
The delivery also reflects Seoul's intent to take preemptive measures for the
winter, during which the spread of the H1N1 flu virus may speed up, officials
said. The amount of medicine sent is enough for each North Korean patient to take
for five days. About 1 billion won (US$846,740) worth of hand sanitizer will be
also delivered as soon as the government acquires the shipment from
manufacturers, likely in mid-January.
The Tamiflu aid marks the first humanitarian assistance the South Korean
government has provided to North Korea since conservative President Lee Myung-bak
took office in Seoul last year. Lee cut off the unconditional aid that his
liberal predecessors had shipped to the North over the past decade, conditioning
inter-Korean exchanges on progress in the North's denuclearization.
The inter-Korean aid comes amid a flurry of diplomacy between North Korea and the
United States on ways to resume a multilateral negotiating forum on ending the
North's nuclear program.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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