Kim Jong-un accepting American aid packages despite vow to 'destroy entire US territory'

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Exclusive: American NGO says it has stepped in to help North Korea despite its leader's nuclear threats as "unless something is done, patients will die" 

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un salutes as he arrives to inspect a military drill. 

He has threatened to "burn Manhattan down to the ashes" and "destroy the entire US territory" with a nuclear strike.

But North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is quietly accepting aid from an American NGO to tackle his country's spiraling tuberculosis crisis, the Telegraph has learned.

The Eugene Bell Foundation, which combats drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), has delivered its first package to the secretive regime since it carried out its fourth nuclear test in January.

 
Kim Jong-un visits the Mirae Shop and Health Complex in Pyongyang.

And despite Mr Kim's all-consuming hatred for America, the Washington-based group said it had no trouble transporting the medicine.

"Despite the ongoing tensions surrounding the Korean peninsula this year, we are happy to announce that our spring shipment of medications and supplies for our multidrug-resistant treatment program have arrived in North Korea," aid workers said in a "special announcement" seen by the Telegraph.
"We would like to extend a special thanks to all those who have helped make this possible," they added.
Though TB has mostly disappeared from the developed world, it remains a major public health risk in North Korea, where a drug-resistant strain of the disease has emerged.
"Short of all-out war, I cannot imagine a greater tragedy for the Korean people." Dr Linton said the lives of at least 1,500 TB patients were at risk because Seoul did not make humanitarian aid an exception to the latest sanctions imposed on North Korea for its nuclear programme. The Foundation said it has since "quietly campaigned" to convince the South to release three containers of tuberculosis medicine. "Despite chronic tensions and occasional military clashes, with permission from the current and three previous South Korean administrations, for two decades Eugene Bell has provided a dependable supply of South Korean TB medications to TB sufferers in the north," a spokesman said. Multiple rocket launchers are seen being fired during a military drill at an unknown locationMultiple rocket launchers are seen being fired during a military drill at an unknown location Photo: KCNA/Reuters "Under its current MDR-TB program, Eugene Bell delegations collect and test sputum samples using GeneXpert technology under an export license issued by the US government." A spokesman for the North Korean regime at its embassy in London declined to comment.
Around five per cent of the North population have been infected with the disease, which a 2010 Amnesty International report attributed to "an overall deterioration in health and nutrition status of the population as well as the rundown of the public health services” North Korean officials referred to the outbreak as its "biggest health emergency," and the disease is said to have killed more than 5,000 people last year.
Treatment for the so-called "Super TB" is only available through the foundation, which has twelve medical centres in North Korea, but it only has enough drugs to last until April 2016.

Artillery pieces are seen being fired during a military drill at an unknown location in North Korea recently.  

Dr Stephen Linton, the Eugene Bell Foundation's founder, told the Telegraph they felt compelled to step in after South Korea cut humanitarian aid to the North in January.
“Unless something is done quickly, our patients will fail treatment and die," he said.

"Short of all-out war, I cannot imagine a greater tragedy for the Korean people."
Dr Linton said the lives of at least 1,500 TB patients were at risk because Seoul did not make humanitarian aid an exception to the latest sanctions imposed on North Korea for its nuclear programme.


The Foundation said it has since "quietly campaigned" to convince the South to release three containers of tuberculosis medicine.
"Despite chronic tensions and occasional military clashes, with permission from the current and three previous South Korean administrations, for two decades Eugene Bell has provided a dependable supply of South Korean TB medications to TB sufferers in the north," a spokesman said.

Multiple rocket launchers are seen being fired during a military drill at an unknown location.
 
"Under its current MDR-TB program, Eugene Bell delegations collect and test sputum samples using GeneXpert technology under an export license issued by the US government."
A spokesman for the North Korean regime at its embassy in London declined to comment.


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