North Korea to accept South’s aid

North Korea has accepted an offer of aid from South Korea after devastating floods, the South said yesterday, the first time the new leadership in Pyongyang has accepted aid from Seoul.

In an unusually grim assessment of the North’s grain harvest this year, South Korea said last week that crop production for the year probably dropped by more than 10% due to flooding and a drought.

The South’s aid offer comes after the UN World Food Programme said last month it would send a first batch of emergency food aid to the isolated state.