South Korea May Help North Korea

South Korea may be about to put political differences aside and provide famine aid to its neighbor.

That news comes as the people of North Korea deal with yet another heartache: the aftermath of typhoons in August and September which killed many people, triggered numerous landslides, swept away 29,000 homes, and damaged close to another 100 thousand homes.

North Korea's state news agency estimates the typhoon damage at over $6 billion. The North Korean government, which rarely makes public any specifics about affairs within its borders, has not released any casualty figures.

"A regional torrential rain and typhoon in September in particular claimed human lives and inflicted enormous disasters upon different sectors," it said.

Torrential rains which swept across the nation severed roads and railway communications, destroyed 1,930 bridges and cut off traffic for many days, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

The Geneva-based International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said this week the damage caused by the heavy rains brought on by two typhoons in mid-September and at end-August is reported to be the worst in 30 years.

It appealed on Tuesday for $530,000 in emergency funds for 10,000 North Koreans left homeless by the flash floods and storms, calling the destruction in the reclusive country "beyond belief."

The IFRC said more than 40 people had been killed and warned that the approaching winter threatened the thousands of North Koreans driven from their homes.

North Korea's KCNA said vast areas along its east and west coasts were hit by torrential rain.

In Seoul, a source says South Korea is in talks with a supplier to provide famine struck North Korea with 400,000 to 500,000 tons of Chinese corn, an industry source said on Friday.

Korea's state-run Supply Administration (SAROK) is believed to be in talks on shipment dates for the corn, which is to be delivered via South Korea, the source said.

"It appears the grain will be shipped to South Korea first in order to be delivered to North Korea," said the source, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

He did not disclose the name of the supplier or price.

North Korea has been hit by a series of droughts and floods that have created widespread and chronic food shortages for the past five years. The communist North, which has been seeking to end its Cold War isolation, now relies on international charity to feed its 22 million people.

A South Korean official says providing food on credit to North Korea is being considered but nothing has been decided yet.

A South Korean government official said earlier this month details for providing food on credit to North Korea are likely to be addressed in next week's talks between North and South in Seoul and in South Korea's Cheju island.

Industry analysts had said they expected Seoul to buy Chinese corn and Thai rice to provide to the North. But he industry source said he had no information about any rice supply deals.

"Public opinion on this is extremely important and we are collecting views and assessing our best options," the ministry official said.

South Korea's main opposition party has raised concerns that the North could divert food aid to its military instead of feeding its poor. It has demanded that any aid provided to the North be subject to National Assembly approval.

The two Koreas remain technically at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in an armed truce that is still in effect.

In the recent flurry of talks between the erstwhile enemies, the North is believed to have asked for one million tons of food from the South to help avert shortages caused by drought.

A senior United Nations official said last month North Korea is facing a major food crisis and will need an additional six million to seven million tons of grain.

South Korea provided the North with 200,000 tons of fertilizer shortly after the two sides announced plans for their first ever summit, held in June.

It provided another 100,000 tons in the wake of the historic summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and the South's President Kim Dae-jung.

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