PYONGYANG - Kim Jong Il, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), and the Central Committee of the DPRK Red Cross Society have sent relief funds respectively to Japan, the official news agency KCNA reported on Thursday.

According to the KCNA, Kim Jong Il, the general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and chairman of the National Defence Commission of the DPRK, sent relief fund of $500,000?to Korean residents in Japan who suffered from the earthquake and tsunami.

The Central Committee of the DPRK Red Cross Society sent relief fund of $100,000 to the Japan Red Cross Society and expressed deep sympathy to the victims of the earthquake.