S. Korea to give Tamiflu to North Korean workers at joint park

By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, Nov. 23 (Yonhap) -- South Korea will provide the anti-viral drug Tamiflu
to North Korean workers at a joint industrial park, where a South Korean man was
recently found infected with Influenza A (H1N1), officials said Monday.

The 32-year-old man, who was temporarily staying at the joint park in the North's
border town of Kaesong, was confirmed to have the H1N1 virus earlier this month
in the first infection case to be detected north of the border. He later
recovered, but the case alarmed South Korea over the possibility that the highly
infectious virus could be transmitted to the impoverished North.
"Our government is going to take several preventive measures against the outbreak
of the new flu inside the Kaesong industrial park," Unification Ministry
spokesman Chun Hae-sung said at a press briefing.
The ministry will provide the park with 1,000 doses of Tamiflu and lease two
detection cameras, he said. It will also vaccinate five South Korean and 17 North
Korean medical staff stationed there.
"When there is a request from the North, we are going to provide the drug through
an appropriate process," Chun said.
The joint park, just north of the western inter-Korean border, hosts 116 South
Korean firms employing more than 40,800 North Koreans.
The Kaesong park opened in late 2004, a major result of the historic first
inter-Korean summit in 2000. Factories there produce mostly labor-intensive goods
such as electronics, clothing and kitchenware.
North Korea has not reported any H1N1 infections. In South Korea, 82 people have
so far died from the new flu virus.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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