South Korea's Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that it has decided to offer 5 million U.S. dollars in aid to the Philippines where a super typhoon Haiyan ripped through over the weekend.

The Foreign Ministry held an emergency meeting with related ministries to decide on Seoul's disaster relief plan for victims having suffered from the Haiyan, one of the strongest storms ever recorded that cut a wide swath of destruction through several central islands across the Philippines on Friday and Saturday.

According to the United Nations' estimates, the super typhoon claimed as many as 10,000 lives in the Southeast Asian country, affecting nearly 9.8 million people and displacing some 660,000 people.

Seoul also planned to send an emergency relief team consisting of 20 medical staffs, 14 rescue workers and some government officials.

Samsung Group, South Korea's largest conglomerate, also planned to provide 1 million dollars in humanitarian aid to the typhoon-stricken nation, the group said in a statement.

Samsung's financial aid will be delivered through the Red Cross and World Vision, a non-governmental rescue organization.

Samsung Electronics, the group's flagship unit, will send 20 volunteer workers of its Filipino subsidiary to the areas slammed by the typhoon to provide free repairs of home appliances and free laundry services. Endi

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