U.S. spends US$4 million on medical aid for N. Korea in 2008, report says

SEOUL, Dec. 20 (Yonhap) -- The United States government has spent US$4 million so far this year via its private organizations to help North Korea improve its medical facilities, a news report said Saturday.

The figure is 40 times higher than the amount the U.S. government spent last
year, U.S.-based broadcaster Radio Free Asia said in a report, which quoted an
unidentified U.S. State Department official.
"In 2008, the U.S. allocated 4 million dollars for U.S. NGOs to improve
electrical supplies, and provide essential equipment to rural and preventive
hospitals," in North Korea, the U.S. official was quoted as saying in the report.

"We have plans to provide additional humanitarian assistance and medical
equipment coupled with training," quoted as the official saying.
Relations between South and North Korea soured significantly after the South's
conservative President Lee Myung-bak took office in February with a tougher
stance on the North.
Inter-Korean ties frozen further in July when a South Korean tourist was shot
dead by North Korean soldier at a mountain resort in the North.