North Korea has agreed to accept a US offer of financial and medical aid after a deadly train explosion in the communist state, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said today.
"The United States has expressed its intention to provide $100,000 via the International Committee of the Red Cross for funds to purchase supplies," said Mr Han Song-ryol, North Korean deputy ambassador to the United Nations.
"As we agreed to accept the help, the US will provide sets of emergency medical supplies," he said.
Last week, the deputy chief of mission at the US embassy in Seoul, Mr Mark Minton, said the United States had contacted the North directly with the offer.
The United States would also send a team of medical experts if requested, Mr Minton said.
But Mr Han was quoted as declining the US offer to send experts, saying there were already enough in North Korea.
At least 161 people were killed and 1,300 injured in the accident in Ryongchon, near the Chinese border, on April 22nd.
The impoverished North's creaking medical system has been hard pressed to cope with the casualties - particularly complicated burns and eye injuries.
Various countries have given the North aid since the blast including South Korea, Russia and China.