South Korea informed the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Saturday that it would ship emergency medicine and quarantine equipment to help the DPRK deal with an avian influenza outbreak.

The message was delivered to the DPRK at a meeting of liaison officers at the truce village of Panmunjeom earlier in the day, reported South Korean Yonhap News Agency.

Yonhap quoted familar sources as reporting that the emergency shipment would include testing kits, decontamination equipment, and pumps and sprays to decontaminate areas hit by the outbreak.

The DPRK on Friday requested South Korea's aid in combating an outbreak of bird flu caused by H7 strain of virus.

The DPRK said quarantine workers culled and buried about 210, 000 chickens either contracted with or suspected of having the avian influenza.

Late last month, Pyongyang acknowledged the outbreak of the disease at two to three chicken farms and has since been cooperating with international agencies to combat the bird flu.

Source: Xinhua