Seoul ready to provide medical equipment to hospital in N. Korea if asked: gov't

The South Korean government is fully prepared to provide medical equipment to North Korea as soon as it is asked by Pyongyang, a unification ministry report showed Monday, adding it has already secured U.N. approval and necessary budget to do so.

According to the report submitted to Rep. Kim Dai-sik of the main opposition People Power Party, the government plans to supply 166 types of medical equipment to Kangdong County Hospital in Pyongyang, the first hospital completed under North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's push to build factories and medical facilities across the country.

The ministry did not specify the exact items, though it said it would provide essential medical equipment for diagnosis, surgery and treatment, according to the lawmaker.

Under existing United Nations sanctions on the North, countries are prohibited to provide any industrial machinery, including medical equipment, to the reclusive state.

Seoul, however, has already secured a sanctions exemption from the U.N. Security Council sanctions committee, the ministry said in its report, adding the government has also decided to use the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund to finance the project.

"It is a 'ready to go' approach in which sanctions and funding issues have been addressed in advance so that the assistance can be provided immediately if North Korea agrees to accept the medical equipment," a government official told Yonhap News Agency. "We are making preparations so that the project can begin right away once dialogue resumes."

Asked whether such a move would be appropriate at a time when the North continues its provocations, a ministry official said the move aligns with the ministry's principle to consistently carry out "humanitarian aid" regardless of the political and military situation.

"As for humanitarian projects, they will be conducted under the ministry's principle to consistently push forward with them regardless of the political-military situation," Yoon Min-ho, a spokesperson of the unification ministry, told a press briefing.

Rep. Kim raised concerns over the government's plan, citing Pyongyang's continued military provocations and hostile stance toward Seoul.

"How many people would agree to a policy of providing 166 types of medical equipment to North Korea when our own people are struggling to make ends meet while Pyongyang maintains a 'hostile two-state policy' and continues to develop nuclear weapons?" he said.

"We must reconsider our subservient policy toward North Korea that prioritizes assistance as the North maintains its hostile stance toward the South," he added.

North Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Saturday in its latest military provocation that came a day after South Korea, the United States and Japan wrapped up their trilateral military exercise.

Since 2024, the North has been pushing for its Regional Development 20 X 10 Policy, aimed at building modern facilities in 20 regional areas every year over a 10-year period to improve the living standards in rural regions.

As part of the plan, the country has been seeking to build modern hospitals and public amenities in regional areas to close the urban-rural gap. The construction of Kangdong County Hospital was completed in November 2025.