NKorea thanks SKorea for swine flu medicine

NKorea thanks SKorea for swine flu medicine
By KWANG-TAE KIM
Associated Press Writer
Dec 18, 4:57 AM EST

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North Korea made a rare expression of gratitude Friday after South Korea sent swine flu medicine, an official said, a day after Pyongyang threatened retaliation over naval drills near their disputed sea border.

A convoy of South Korean trucks crossed the heavily armed border into North Korea earlier in the day to deliver enough doses of the antiviral drugs Tamiflu and Relenza for 500,000 North Koreans.

The shipment marks the South Korean government's first humanitarian aid since conservative President Lee Myung-bak took office in early 2008 with a pledge to pursue a hard-line policy toward the North and hold it accountable to its nuclear disarmament pledges.

South Korean medical officials explained to North Korean counterparts how to use the medicine and its side effects, Kim Young-il, the head of the South Korean delegation, said after returning from the North's border city Kaesong.

"We express thanks to South Korea for sending medicine," Kim quoted North Korean Health Ministry official Han Su Chol as saying.


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