orean summit postponed by floodsStory Highlights
Landmark Korean summit postponed until October because of flooding crisis
First summit in seven years had been scheduled for end of August
North Korean state TV reports floods have inflicted "unprecedented damage"
At least 300 people dead or missing; South Korea, U.S. pledge aid
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North and South Korea agreed Saturday to postpone the second-ever summit between leaders on the divided peninsula to early October due to recent floods that devastated the impoverished communist North.
A four-wheel-drive vehicle travels on a flooded street in Pyongyang Tuesday.
1 of 2 North Korean leader Kim Jong Il had been set to host South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun in Pyongyang for the first summit between the countries in seven years from Aug. 28-30. The event has now been rescheduled for Oct. 2-4, both Koreas said.
The North's official Korean Central News Agency said Pyongyang "unavoidably" made the delay request because the country has to focus on coping with the aftermath of the recent flooding.
"Torrential rain hit most of its areas every day, causing great damage, and this made it top priority to recover from the flood damage and make the living of the people in the afflicted areas return to normal," KCNA said.
The South's presidential office said the North reaffirmed in a message that it remained committed to holding a summit.
Spokesman Chun Ho-seon told reporters that he does not believe there are any other motivations behind Pyongyang's decision to postpone the summit.
The North has said a week of storms destroyed 11 percent of its staple rice and corn fields. The U.N. warned the severe floods will worsen North Korea's food situation, and an aid group said the numbers of dead and missing from floods has risen to more than 300.
On Friday, South Korea offered the North a $7.5 million emergency aid package.
The South Korean president's office said Saturday it would try to deliver the announced aid as early as possible and consider providing more assistance.
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The United States, Germany and Singapore also offered to help Pyongyang cope with the storms, which have drawn unusual candor from the usually secretive regime.
The impoverished North has been unable to feed its people without outside help since a famine began in the mid-1990s.
Economic mismanagement and the loss of Soviet help triggered the famine. It was exacerbated by 1995 floods.
On Saturday, the North's state TV showed inundated rice paddies, corn fields and flooded streets, saying the downpours inflicted "unprecedented" damage. KCNA also reported that the country is making all-out recovery efforts.
The first-ever summit between the Koreas took place in 2000 between then-South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and the North's Kim.
The meeting led to a significant warming in relations even though the countries remain technically at war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a cease-fire that has never been replaced with a peace treaty.
U.S.-based relief organization Mercy Corps said it planned to provide some $500,000 in food, medicine, clothes and tools to North Korea after discussing the situation with its counterparts there.
Japan also said it would consider giving aid if asked by North Korea, but it did not yet have specific plans.
"We are looking at the situation regarding the flood in North Korea with sympathy," Kenichiro Sasae, Japan's envoy to talks on North Korea's nuclear program, told reporters in China.
