S. Korea's Red Cross offers flood relief aid to N. Korea

(ATTN: UPDATES with time frame of aid delivery, analyst's comment, background) By Kim Kwang-tae SEOUL, Aug. 3 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's Red Cross said Wednesday that it offered a massive amount of humanitarian aid to North Korea to help it recover from recent deadly floods, a move that could help improve ties between the two Koreas after months of tension over Pyongyang's provocations. The Red Cross said in a message to its North Korean counterpart earlier Wednesday that it plans to send medical supplies and other necessities worth 5 billion won (US$4.7 million) through the heavily fortified border. The Red Cross said in the message that it "decided to provide the relief supplies to the North Korean people on humanitarian grounds," according to an official handling the case. He asked not to be identified as he was not authorized to speak to media. Still, South Korea ruled out rice and cement in its proposed aid package, which the official said could be delivered to the North in about a month. North Korea's state media did not immediately report on South Korea's aid offer. Last year, South Korea sent 5,000 tons of rice, 3 million packs of instant noodles and 3,000 tons of cement to North Korea after devastating floods inundated thousands of houses and a vast tract of farmland near the border with China. However, Seoul halted other promised flood aid to North Korea soon after the communist country shelled a South Korean border island in November. The attack, which came eight months after the North torpedoed a South Korean warship, further heightened South Korea's animosity against the North. South Korea has called for North Korea's apology for its two deadly attacks last year before putting their strained relations back on track. The North denies its involvement in the ship sinking and insisted its shelling of the island was a self-defensive measure against South Korea's military drills. Despite lingering tensions, senior nuclear officials between the two Koreas met on the sidelines of a regional security meeting in Indonesia last month, which led to rare talks between North Korea and the United States on stalled negotiations designed to end Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programs. "South Korea's aid could not fundamentally improve its ties with North Korea, though it may help facilitate humanitarian issues such as reunions of separated families" said Kim Yong-hyun, a North Korea expert at Dongguk University. Last year, the two Koreas held temporary reunions of families separated since the 1950-53 Korean War that ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty. About 20,800 have been reunited either face-to-face or via video since a historic summit between the Koreas in 2000. The aid offer came two days after the North said a recent powerful typhoon and heavy downpours left dozens of people dead, injured or missing while destroying 2,900 homes across the country. It said the flooding submerged or washed away nearly 60,000 hectares of farmland, which analysts said could threaten the already fragile food security situation in the affected regions. On Tuesday, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said on its Web site that it allocated more than US$590,000 to help more than 15,000 homeless or displaced people over the next six months. North Korea has been hit hard by floods in recent years, mainly because of its lack of investment in disaster control and severe deforestation. In 2007, North Korea was hit by the heaviest rainfall in 40 years, leaving some 600 people dead or missing and about 100,000 people homeless.