Seoul ( AsiaNews) - For the first time since 2003, the North Korean regime has expressed its condolences "to the government, to the families and survivors" involved in the sinking of the ferry Sewol, which was headed from Incheon to the island of Jeju. There were 476 people on board: of these, 171 were found dead; 131 others are still officially "missing", but hopes of finding them are increasingly slim.
The disaster is made even more
terrible by the fact that there was a group of 330 young high school students
from Danwon Ansan, Seoul, on board the ferry on a school trip to the island. Immediately
after the sinking, the bishop of the Diocese of Cheju (which includes the
island of Jeju) Msgr. Peter
Kang U -il, told AsiaNews: "We
can only pray to the Lord to help the victims and their families, and hope that
prayer and solidarity can somehow comfort the people involved in this disaster".
Pyongyang's
condolences were sent through the head of the North Korean Red Cross, Kang Su-
rin, to his southern counterpart Yoo Jung-keun. A
spokesman for the Unification Ministry in Seoul confirmed: " North Korea
has sent its deepest sympathy to all those involved in the disaster, including
the many students".
This
is the first time in more than a decade that Pyongyang has publically expressed
sympathy for a disaster that occurred in the South The last time that the
regime dates back to 2003, for the Daegu metro fire and the aftermath of typhoon
Maemi, which struck the southern part of the Korean Peninsula.