PYONGYANG (Kyodo) North Korea's Red Cross Society has sent $100,000 (about ¥8.1 million) in relief funds to the Japanese Red Cross Society for victims of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, official media reported Thursday.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il separately sent $500,000 to pro-Pyongyang Korean residents in Japan who suffered from the magnitude 9.0 quake and massive tsunami, Korean Central News Agency said.
In 1995, North Korea extended $200,000 in aid via the Red Cross to victims of the Great Hanshin Earthquake in Kobe and neighboring areas, and Kim, then a secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, offered $1 million in assistance to pro-Pyongyang Korean residents in Japan.
North Korea extended similar support after the 2004 Niigata Chuetsu Earthquake.