North Korea made new pleas for help and thousands of rescuers rushed in food, medicine and tents as the victims of last week’s train explosion struggled to stay clean and warm nearly a week after the disaster.

THOUSANDS of North Koreans face debilitating side-effects from exposure to chemicals that caused last week’s train blast, aid groups said, warning the disaster’s impact would be felt for years.

A GROUP of UN agencies is asking for $221 million in international aid for North Korea, where food shortages, poverty and poor health care services have put the country in a state of “chronic emergency”, an agency spokesman said yesterday.