March 28, 2005

South Korea to help Pyongyang with bird flu outbreak

South Korea wants to help rival North Korea battle its first acknowledged outbreak of bird flu, the Seoul government said Monday.

Top officials at the Unification Ministry, in charge of Seoul's dealings with North Korea, were meeting later Monday to decide how to address the outbreak confirmed Sunday by Pyongyang.

"We would like to give some kind of assistance to tackle the issue," said ministry spokeswoman Yang Jeong-hwa.

Quarantine measures reportedly were strengthened after news of a possible outbreak emerged earlier this month.

The South this month shelved plans to start importing poultry from the North. South Korea bans poultry imports from bird flu-infected countries.

The North's official news agency reported Sunday that hundreds of thousands of chickens had been slaughtered as a result of the outbreak at a few farms. There was no information on which strain of the disease had been found.