South Korea approves $8 million aid to North Korea

Lim Hyoung-joon, the head of the World Food Programme's Korea Office, gives a presentation about the food situation in North Korea at a forum hosted by the Korea Institute for National Unification at the Koreana Hotel in Seoul, May 30. Yonhap

By Jung Da-min

The Ministry of Unification has approved a plan to send $8 million (about 9.4 billion won) worth of humanitarian assistance to North Korea through international agencies.

About $4.5 million will be allocated to the World Food Program (WFP) to support its food shipment projects, while $3.5 million will go to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) maternal and child healthcare and nutrition programs, the ministry announced Wednesday.

The unification ministry and the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Promotion Council (IKECPC) made the final decision after discussions among 18 council members that includes government officials and North Korea experts from May 29 to June 5.

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The transfer of money is expected to take place next week at the earliest.

The plan to indirectly provide humanitarian aid to North Korea came in the wake of the international community's growing concern on the worsening food situation in the North.

A joint food security assessment conducted by the United Nations' WFP and the Food and Agriculture Organization from March 29 to April 12 was released May 3. It reported that 10.1 million people in the North Korea, about 40 percent of its population, were at risk of food shortages due to abnormally high temperatures and floods that struck the country last year.

While noting a decrease in rations distributed by North Korea's Public Distribution System from 380 grams per day to 300 grams, the report also predicted further declines in food production in the coming months.

On May 17, the government announced its plan to push ahead with humanitarian aid to the North at a meeting of the standing committee of the National Security Council, presided over by National Security Office director Chung Eui-yong.

Chung dismissed skepticism toward the aid plan that followed a series of short-range missiles tests, May 4 and 9, saying the issue should be reviewed from the viewpoint of "compatriots" regardless of national security issues.

Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul, who chairs the IKECPC, has also said the issue should not be linked to political affairs on the Korean Peninsula and that a broad consensus from the international community has been reached on this.

The government initiated the $8 million aid project in 2017, but this was suspended amid sanctions and policies of pressure on the North.

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