An American destroyer is following a North Korean ship suspected of transporting weapons toward Burma, as anticipation mounted today that the North could soon test-fire short- or medium-range missiles off its eastern coast.

Flooding that may have killed thousands in North Korea is being ignored because of the country’s pariah status after recent missile launches, a South Korean aid group said today as it prepared to ship aid for victims.

APPALLED by the carnage of last week’s train explosion in North Korea, South Korea quickly offered to send doctors to treat child victims in crowded hospitals, their charred faces wrapped in dirty bandages and without the intravenous drips essential to burn patients.

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.