Seoul approves aid to North, Trump ridiculed

SEOUL: South Korea yesterday approved a plan to send $US8 million ($NZ9.9 million) worth of aid to North Korea, as China warned the crisis on the Korean peninsula was getting more serious by the day and the war of words between Pyongyang and Washington continued.

North Korea’s foreign minister yesterday likened United States President Donald Trump to a ‘‘barking dog’’, after Trump warned he would ‘‘totally destroy’’ the North if it threatened the United States and its allies.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the situation on the Korean peninsula was getting more serious by the day and could not be allowed to spin out of control.

‘‘We call on all parties to be calmer than calm and not let the situation escalate out of control,’’ Wang said, according to a report from the staterun China News Service yesterday.

The decision to send aid to North Korea was not popular in South Korea, hitting President Moon Jaein’s approval rating. It also raised concerns in Japan and the US and followed new United Nations sanctions against North Korea for its sixth nuclear test earlier this month.

The South’s Unification Ministry said its aid policy remained unaffected by geopolitical tensions with the North. The exact timing of when the aid would be sent, as well as its size, would be confirmed later, the ministry said in a statement.

The South said it aimed to send $US4.5 million worth of nutritional products for children and pregnant women through the World Food Programme and $US3.5 million worth of vaccines and medicinal treatments through Unicef.

‘‘We have consistently said we would pursue humanitarian aid for North Korea in consideration of the poor conditions children and pregnant women are in there, apart from political issues,’’ Unification Minister Cho Myonggyon said.

Beofre the decision, Unicef’s regional director for East Asia and the Pacific Karin Hulshof said in a statement the problems North Korean children faced ‘‘are all too real’’.

‘‘Today, we estimate that around 200,000 children are affected by acute malnutrition, heightening their risk of death and increasing rates of stunting,’’ Hulshof said.

‘‘Food and essential medicines and equipment to treat young children are in short supply.’’

The last time the South sent aid to the North was in December 2015, through the United Nations Population Fund, under expresident Park Geunhye.

South Korea’s efforts aimed at fresh aid for North Korea has dragged down Moon’s approval rating. Realmeter, a South Korean polling organisation, said yesterday Moon’s approval rating stood at 65.7%, weakening for a fourth straight month.

Although the approval rate is still high, those surveyed said Moon had fallen out of favour due to North Korea’s continued provocations and the Government’s decision to consider sending aid to North Korea, Realmeter said.

Moon was to meet with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Trump on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, where North Korea was expected to be the core agenda.

In an address on Wednesday, Trump escalated his standoff with North Korea over its nuclear challenge, threatening to ‘‘totally destroy’’ the country of 26 million people if the North threatened the United States and its allies.

Trump also mocked its leader, Kim Jong Un, calling him a ‘‘rocket man’’.

North Korea’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho called Trump’s comments ‘‘the sound of a dog barking’’.

‘‘There is a saying that goes: ‘Even when dogs bark, the parade goes on’,’’ Ri said in televised remarks to reporters in New York. ‘‘If [Trump] was thinking about surprising us with dogbarking sounds then he is clearly dreaming.’’

When asked by reporters what he thought of Trump calling North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ‘‘rocket man’’, Ri quipped, ‘‘I feel sorry for his aides.’’ — Reuters