Seoul, Sep 7 (IANS) North Korea has asked South Korea to send rice and necessary construction equipment to help it recover from floods, the government here said Tuesday.
The request was made in a reply to an offer last week by South Korea’s Red Cross to give North Korea emergency relief aid worth $8.4 million, Xinhua reported.

Seoul is considering the request, the unification ministry said in a statement.

The South Korean government suspended virtually all exchanges with Pyongyang in May after an international probe concluded that the sinking of a South Korean warship was masterminded by North Korea, a charge it denies.

Seoul also stopped government-level aid to Pyongyang.

In apparent peace overtures, North Korea Monday offered to release crew members of a South Korean fishing boat held there for trespassing into its waters.

The floods triggered by August rains killed 14 people and damaged houses and public buildings in the North Korea’s border town of Sinuiju, media reports said.