Destitute North Korea accepts, then rejects, flood aid from South

ALL content used in this not-for-profit blog remain the property of their respective owners.
http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/asia/story/destitute-north-korea-accepts-then-rejects-flood-aid-south-20120912

Impoverished North Korea rejected South Korea's offer of emergency food and medicines to help recover from devastating summer floods, two days after accepting what would have been the first shipment of government aid from Seoul in two years.

Wealthy South Korea said last week in an unusually grim assessment of the North's grain harvest that crop production for the year probably dropped more than 10 percent due to flooding and a drought.

North Korea rejected help from the South, saying, "That type of support is not needed", an official at the South Korean Unification Ministry said on Tuesday. North Korea has a record of flip-flopping on international agreements, especially on deals reached in so-called six-party talks to halt its nuclear weapons programme.

The South's offer came after the United Nations (UN) World Food Programme said last month it would send a first batch of emergency food aid to North Korea.