WASHINGTON - The U.S. has sent a cargo plane of emergency supplies to North Korea as part of a modest but symbolically significant contribution to the impoverished country's flood relief effort.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland says the plane is carrying blankets, soap and hygiene kits. It will arrive in Pyongyang this weekend.

The U.S. has said it will provide North Korea $900,000 in emergency aid through U.S. charities.

Heavy rainfall pounded the Korean peninsula in July. North Korean media said last month that flooding killed about 30 people and left thousands homeless.

Some nations have been leery of helping Pyongyang for fear that aid could be diverted to North Korea's political elite or the military.