[Editorial] The North Should Learn Lessons From Yongcheon Disaster

North Korea unexpectedly disclosed news of the accident that occurred in Yongcheon quite early, and requested aid from international organizations. The nation appeared to make every effort not to hide its catastrophe. However, the North should better clarify their relief goods and support needs more specifically so that appropriate aid can be made on time.

International societies have already launched relief programs for the North. North Korea’s alliances such as China and Russia, and also the United States, Japan, England, Germany and many of international agencies have expressed their intention to provide support as well, and some relief goods has already started to arrive in the nation. The virtue of the international organizations--offering humanitarian aid as much as possible to any nation in need- has not excluded this reclusive nation.

South Korean civil organizations, the press, and political parties as well as the government also began to make relief plans to help North Korea earlier and more as much as possible. The South’s attempts to promote the North Korea support campaign arise from a sincere brotherly love that is aimed at relieving the North Korean people’s agony. The North should realize that such activities from South Korea are examples of true cultural cooperation.

The North Korean government needs to have a convertible attitude in order to handle the accident swiftly by using help from external sources in efficient ways. For the quick transportation of medical supplies, relief goods and manpower, the North should have no reason to open its land route as well as sea and air routes. Especially for the care of seriously injured persons, time is what counts the most. If the North’s medical facilities cannot cope with every treatment, it is worth while to change their way of thinking to transfer the injured to the South’s hospitals.

North Korea will be able to improve its international image if it uses lessons of coexistence learned from this accident as momentum. No one in the South and other foreign countries has hostility towards the North Korean people who are in need of humanitarian support, which the North should bear in mind.