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No fever aid for Pyongyang

South Korea will not provide any medical aid to North Korea over a reported outbreak of scarlet fever in the impoverished country, a government official said yesterday.

The isolated communist regime has not publicly acknowledged the outbreak of the disease, but South Korean media and a civic group have reported the disease broke out in northern Ryanggang Province in October and has spread to other parts of the North.

The South's government has suspended regular humanitarian aid to North Korea in protest over the North's missile tests in July. The decision angered the North, bringing high-level inter-Korean talks to a deadlock. Relations worsened further following the North's nuclear test in October.

Seoul had earlier indicated that it would consider sending medical aid to the North once it gets confirmation of the new outbreak.

But Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung said the South will not provide medical aid to Pyongyang as scarlet fever is not fatal.

"We believe that North Korea can resolve this issue on its own," said Lee, who handles reconciliation efforts with the North.

His remarks came a day after a South Korean private relief agency sent penicillin and other medicines worth 5 billion won (US$5.3 million) to North Korea.

South Korea's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said scarlet fever is not usually a serious disease and can be easily treated with antibiotics. But it could become a problem in North Korea because the country lacks medicine.
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