S Korea to send antiviral drugs to DPRK late this week

SEOUL, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- The South Korean government will send antiviral drugs via road to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Friday amid swine flu outbreak in the neighboring country, Seoul's Unification Ministry said Tuesday.

"On Friday, our government will deliver the aid via the road to Kaesong", a border town in the DPRK, the ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung said in a press briefing.

"The aids consist of Tamiflu doses for 400,000 people and Relenza for 100,000," Chun added.

The 18 billion won (about 15 million U.S. dollars) worth of drugs will be delivered by refrigerated trucks, the spokesman said, adding that doctors will accompany the trucks to give advice to the DPRK side on how to apply the medications.

The move comes after the DPRK last week acknowledged the Influenza A/H1N1 outbreak in the country, confirming nine cases of the flu, and accepted Seoul's offer to provide medical aids.

The two sides have been ironing out details on the medical aids through communication channels at the truce village of Panmunjom, Chun said, calling the move a "purely humanitarian" act.

The rare acceptance of aids by the DPRK might hint at warming ties between the two countries, whose relations hit deadlock since the South Korean President Lee Myung-bak took office in February 2008 with pledges to get tougher on the DPRK, experts in Seoul have said.