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German Red Cross asked to continue helping N.K.: report
SEOUL, May 1 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has requested that the German Red Cross continue providing medical aid to the impoverished communist state well beyond 2009, a Washington-based radio station reported Thursday.
The request was made when Rudolf Seiters, president of the German Red Cross, visited Pyongyang leading a five-member delegation on April 22-26, the Voice of America said, citing a spokeswoman for the group.
Seiters met with Kim Yong-nam, chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly who serves as the North's ceremonial leader, in Pyongyang to discuss his group's overrall programs to aid the communist state, the report said.
"The North Korean Red Cross Society asked us to continue assistance after 2009," Svenja Koch, spokeswoman for the German Red Cross, told the radio. "The best way to help North Korea is catering to the North Korean needs," she said.
The German group has sent medical kit that includes pain-killers, antibiotics and nutritional injections, as well as medical equipment such as blood pressure cuffs and stethoscopes to some 2,000 local hospitals and clinics across North Korea since April last year. About 8.8 million North Korean residents benefited from the aid, Koch said.
The German government has provided 4 million euros (US$6.2 million) worth of aid to the North every year since 1997, the spokeswoman added.
sshim@yna.co.kr
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