2010-09-13 11:28

Choi Seung-Bae (81) looks at pieces of paper and cloth, with words written in hope for the reunification of the two Koreas, in front of a military fence as his wife Lee Jung-sook (bottom, 72) bows toward her hometown in the north, at Imjingak near the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas in Paju, north of Seoul September 12, 2010. [Agencies]

SEOUL -- The Republic of Kroea (ROK) announced Monday it will offer 5,000 tons of rice and 250,000 bags of cement for flood victims in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

It also proposed to hold inter-Korean talks over separated family reunion on September 17 in the border town of Kaesong, Seoul's Red Cross, a main channel for humanitarian cooperation between the two sides, said in a press briefing.

The aid will be delivered to the DPRK's northwestern coastal city of Sinuiju reportedly hit hardest by torrential rains and floods there, the organization said.

The moves come after the DPRK asked Seoul for rice aid earlier this month, in response to Seoul's offer last month of providing its northern neighbor with medical supplies and emergency relief goods in flood aid.

Observers say the aid might hint at a thaw between frosty inter-Korean ties. Seoul suspended virtually exchanges with Pyongyang in May, after an international probe concluded that the sinking of a ROK's warship was masterminded by the DPRK, a charge it denies.