South Korea unlikely to help North after floods

SOUTH Korea said on Monday it was unlikely to provide humanitarian aid to tens of thousands of flood survivors in North Korea even if the country asked for help, reaffirming its hard-line stance after the North’s fifth nuclear test.

North Korea has mobilised soldiers and workers in internal relief efforts for an estimated 140,000 victims in its northern provinces after torrential rains last month caused what it has described as some of the worst flooding in its history. International relief agencies like the United Nations World Food Program have also sent food and other assistance and have appealed for millions of dollars in international donations.

On Monday, the South Korean government said it would not help.

“North Korea has not asked for help, and we don’t expect it to,” Jeong Joonhee, a spokesman for the South’s Unification Ministry, said during a news briefing. “Even if it does, I think, given the present situation, that the possibility of providing aid is low.”

News of flooding and extensive damage in the impoverished North has prompted many in the South to call for sending humanitarian aid.

Despite North Korea’s frequent military provocations and its pursuit of nuclear weapons, the suffering of ordinary citizens often elicits sympathy in the South. The South’s Constitution includes North Korea in its territory and calls for “national unity” through “humanitarianism and brotherly love.”

The flooding hit near North Korea’s border with China only weeks before the start of winter.

Jeong said on Monday that North Korea was not helping itself by conducting a costly nuclear test this month as its people were suffering from the floods. The nuclear test has prompted South Korea and its main ally, the US, to call for a new round of tougher sanctions.

“It should have spent the massive expenses not on a nuclear test but on helping its people recover from the flood damage,” Jeong said.