DPRK asks for relief goods from South Korea

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Tuesday presented South Korea a list of relief goods for the victims of a devastating train explosion that hit a key railway station last week.

At a joint meeting held in the DPRK's border town of Kaesong earlier Tuesday, the DPRK delegation presented the list of needs, including cement, bulldozers, steel rooftops, diesel oil, vinyl chloride and school equipment, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported, quoting South Korean officials at the meeting.

The list mentioned desks, chairs, TVs and blackboards for schools hit by the disaster, according to the report.

Some 160 people, including 76 primary school students, were killed and more than 1,300 injured in the train explosion which occurred at Ryongchon railway station in the DPRK last Thursday.

South Korea will study Pyongyang's requests and find available supply sources of the needed materials before giving a response to the DPRK, said the officials.

Expressing thanks for Seoul's "brotherly love and humanitarian aid," Pyongyang declined to accept Seoul's offer to dispatch engineers to help it and called for a swift delivery of recovery materials instead, Yonhap said.

The South Korean delegation to the meeting, comprising nine government officials, traveled by car to the DPRK earlier in the day and returned home in the evening.

The meeting came a day after the DPRK advised South Korea to transport relief goods via sea route rather than an overland route across the inter-Korean border.

South Korean planned to deliver the first batch of relief goods to the DPRK by ship from the port of Incheon on Wednesday, which will arrive at the DPRK's Nampo port two days later.

The relief will include 100,000 boxes of instant noodles, 12,000 bottles of mineral water, 3,000 blankets and 3,000 pieces of sportswear.

South Korea announced last weekend that it would provide emergency relief goods worth one million US dollars to the DPRK. Civic and media organizations in the country have also launched fund-raising campaigns to help the DPRK victims.

Source: Xinhua