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S. Korea offers MERS detection devices to N. Korea

June 4, 2015
South Korea has offered North Korea MERS detection devices to install at the Kaesong Industrial Complex where there are factory workers from both the North and South. ((AP Photo/Kim Hong-ji)

South Korea has offered North Korea MERS detection devices to install at the Kaesong Industrial Complex where there are factory workers from both the North and South. (AP Photo/Kim Hong-ji)

SEOUL, June 4 (Yonhap) — South Korea said Thursday it plans to provide North Korea with devices to detect the MERS virus so they could be installed at a joint industrial zone in the North.

At the request of the North, South Korea plans to soon install three thermal scanners for those who move in and out of the Kaesong Industrial Complex, where about 53,000 North Koreas workers are employed, said an official at the Ministry of Unification, asking not to be named.

“The North has recently raised the issue of the MERS outbreak in the South and it has asked Seoul to send such devices to the zone,” the official said.

Concerns about the spread of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) are growing in South Korea as the virus has killed two South Koreans so far, while the number of those infected has increased to 35.

The reclusive communist country has been highly sensitive to the outbreak of highly contagious diseases due to its weak health care system.

Last year, the North imposed a travel ban on incoming foreign tourists for about five months due to concerns over the deadly Ebola virus.

In November, Seoul lent thermal scanners to Pyongyang when fears of the Ebola virus gripped the world. In 2009, the North made a similar request to the South over concerns of avian flu.

“The scanners will be sent to the North as soon as possible,” the official said. “North Korea has also asked South Korea to provide masks for North Korean workers at the complex.”

“There have been no reported MERS cases in North Korea. … Seoul plans to make every effort to prevent the virus from spreading into the industrial complex,” she said.

The North’s Korean Central Television reported Wednesday that two South Koreans have died of MERS, saying the virus is fast spreading throughout South Korea.