The government has authorized a private group to send aid to North Korea, lifting a months-long ban on such activities imposed over Pyongyang’s provocative behavior, an official said Thursday.
The official at the unification ministry said it had approved a request from the Eugene Bell Foundation to mobilize over $305,000 worth of medicine to treat a highly-resistant strain of tuberculosis.
It was the first approval of local private-sector humanitarian aid since last November, when Seoul imposed the ban in response to Pyongyang’s shelling of Yeonpyeong Island.
“There have been calls to at least allow civic groups to send aid to the North,” the official said on condition of anonymity. “The government has taken this into consideration.”
The ministry was reviewing requests by seven other groups.
The work of non-governmental organizations that provide aid to the North has been severely hampered since last March, when the deadly sinking of the frigate Cheonan forced the government to impose travel restrictions to the North.
A resumption of humanitarian aid later in the year was then halted completely after the broad-daylight shelling of Yeonpyeong.
But Seoul says its basic stance is to continuously allow private humanitarian aid and that it had been mulling when and how to resume the activities since immediately after the most recent attack.
Officials say the government has no plans to resume government-level aid or provide funds to the private groups.
Dr. Stephen Linton, founder of Eugene Bell, said the move would have an immediate impact on its ongoing fight against multidrug resistant TB (MDRTB).
“This is a very positive step. It means that our patients will continue to get medicine without running out. That’s huge because unless they stay on the medication their very survival is at risk,” he said.
The foundation comprises two independent partner organizations, one in South Korea and one in the United States, that work together to provide medical assistance to North Korean patients and caregivers.
It needs Seoul’s approval as the medicines are purchased and shipped under South Korean law.
Linton said that when tensions reached their peak last year he feared the foundation’s MRDTB program was at risk.
“But this news confirms to me that the Korean people are serious about this problem and willing to work through all sorts of issues to address it. I couldn’t be more grateful,” he said.
Linton said the shipment of medicine was slated go out today, and that a delegation would follow on April 19 to collect samples from patients.
Assistance to the North has been a thorn in inter-Korean relations since 2008, when the Lee Myung-bak administration made drastic cuts in food aid, tying its provision to denuclearization efforts by Pyongyang.
In another signal of warming ties, the two sides held a meeting of geology experts earlier this week to discuss potential volcanic activity at Mt. Baekdu in the North.