South Korea, North Korea hold talks on bird flu control
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-04-22 16:01

Authorities from South Korea and North Korea met Friday in a North Korean border town to discuss joint efforts to help the North contain a bird flu outbreak, officials said.

South Korean trucks returning from the inter-Korean industrial complex in North Korea's Kaesong after unloading construction materials pass through an anti-epidemic spray at Dorasan immigration office, near a demilitarised zone in Paju, about 55 km (34 miles) north of Seoul, April 22, 2005. South Korean officials travelled to the North Korean city of Kaesong on Friday for talks on helping the country combat a bird flu outbreak, Unification Ministry officials said. [Reuters]

The one-day meeting in Kaesong, site of a joint economic zone run by both Koreas, follows Pyongyang's acceptance of a South Korean offer to help contain the avian influenza. The results of the meeting were not immediately available, the Unification Ministry said.

The South's three-member delegation was led by Kim Chang-seob, a quarantine expert from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

A South Korean worker (L), who works at the inter-Korean industrial complex in North Korea's Kaesong, passes a camera that monitors his temperature to check for possible bird flu infection at the Dorasan immigration office, near a demilitarised zone in Paju, about 55 km (34 miles) north of Seoul, April 22, 2005. [Reuters]

On Saturday, Seoul will ship supplies worth 720 million won to the North, including 20,000 diagnosis kits, and 18,000 antiseptic and disinfectant sprayers.

In March, the North acknowledged its first outbreak of bird flu. It has culled 210,000 chickens since the outbreak.

The North said the sick birds were infected with the H7 strain - not the H5N1 strain that has jumped from poultry to humans in Southeast Asia, killing at least 51 people.

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