U.N. agency to send food aid to flood-hit N. Korea

The United Nations' aid group said Saturday it will send 336 tons of emergency food aid to flood-ravaged North Korea.

The World Food Program (WFP) "is sending a first batch of emergency food aid to flood-hit areas" in the southern part of the communist country, the agency said in a news release.

Tropical storms and subsequent floods swept through the North in July, leaving at least 88 people dead and more than 60,000 homeless as well as destroying farmland, according to WFP.

The move came after the North filed a request for emergency aid this week, and the U.N. Resident Coordinator's Office in Pyongyang called for immediate assistance after an on-site investigation.

The aid will provide victims there with "an initial ration of 400 grams of maize per day for 14 days," the WFP said, adding it also has plans to conduct "a comprehensive assessment of the food situation and prospects for food production" in September.

Meanwhile, Seoul's unification ministry said on Friday it is not considering offering aid to the North, though its stance is to help vulnerable North Koreans on purely humanitarian grounds if necessary. (Yonhap News)