S. Korea denies report it rejected N. Korea's request for masks

SEOUL, March 9 (Yonhap) -- South Korea has denied a news report that it rejected North Korea's request for masks to help prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.

The Yomiuri Shimbun, a major Japanese daily, reported earlier that Seoul proposed sending medicine and diagnostic reagent to the North to help check COVID-19 virus infections after President Moon Jae-in expressed his support for such cooperation in his March 1 Independence Movement Day address.

In response, the North requested mask assistance, but the South rejected it, citing mask shortages, the report said, citing a South Korean government official.

On Monday, the unification ministry flatly dismissed the report as groundless.

"That is groundless. That is completely untrue," Yoh Sang-key, the ministry's spokesperson, said in a regular press briefing when asked whether the recent media report is true.

Last week, the unification ministry also dismissed speculation that the government has provided masks to the North after a local TV station aired video footage of a North Korean medical worker wearing a dental mask with the logo of a South Korean brand.

North Korea has not reported any outbreaks of COVID-19, but the country has taken various preventive efforts, including shutting down its border with China, where the virus originated, and toughening quarantine procedures for foreigners.

julesyi@yna.co.kr
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