South Korea to wait for North Korea's response to aid offer with no deadline set: ministry

An undated photo released by the official North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows medical service personnel in the military handing out medical supplies at a pharmacy to curb the current coronavirus disease health crisis in Pyongyang, May 20. EPA-Yonhap

The South Korean government will wait for North Korea's response to its offer of cooperation against the COVID-19 outbreak there, leaving the door open for sending aid through international organizations, the unification ministry said Monday.

Last Monday, the ministry attempted to send a fax message to the North through their joint liaison office to offer working-level consultations on the pandemic and medical assistance, including vaccines, masks and test kits.

But the North has remained unresponsive as of this Monday morning.

"Making a regular call at 9 a.m. via the inter-Korean liaison office today, the Ministry of Unification asked the North for its intent on whether to accept the message that we sought to deliver last week, but the North Korean side made no mention of the issue and ended the call," the ministry's spokesperson Cho Joong-hoon told a press briefing.

The government plans to wait for the North's response with an "open mind" without setting a certain deadline, he added.

The ministry urged Pyongyang to respond to Seoul's calls for COVID-related cooperation, stating its willingness to consider various ways to deliver assistance, including through international organizations. (Yonhap)