North Korean Relief Efforts from More than 20 Countries

On Monday, four days after the Yongcheon train explosion in North Korea, many countries and international organizations pledged to aid North Korea.

So far, more than 20 countries, including China, Russia, Japan, the U.S., some members of the European Union(EU) such as Britain, Germany, Sweden, Ireland, Australia, and Switzerland expressed offers to help North Korea. More than 10 international organizations have been already involved in North Korean relief efforts as well. The European Commission will come up with an emergency measure to assist North Korea in providing 200,000 euros worth or about 270 million won to the North through the Denmark Red Cross. The Japanese government decided to send $100,000 of medical and food supplies to North Korea. International organizations, including the U.N. and the International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC), promised to send medical and other relief goods worth over three billion won to North Korea to Monday and have started to transport them.

Dong-Won Kim daviskim@donga.com