Seoul to push planned aid package to NK

By Kim Yoo-chul

A senior government official said Tuesday the government will push ahead with the $8 million aid package for North Korea after the UN Security Council approved new United States-backed guidelines to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid, there.

“Sending an $8 million aid package to North Korea is one of the promises that South Korea guaranteed to international organizations. Things will get much easier thanks to a small olive branch from the United States and the U.N.,” said one government official by telephone.

“While there are many different aspects to humanitarian assistance, South Korea will put more emphasis on improving living conditions especially for children and pregnant women,” added the official.

The updated guidelines were originally crafted by the United States Ambassador to U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and experts with the U.S. mission to the U.N. The new procedures allow international and non-international organizations to conduct “humanitarian activities” in North Korea “for the benefit of the civilian populations.”

The Netherlands, which chairs the sanctions committee, welcomed efforts by the United States to craft the guidelines and added the guidelines recommend the governments and NGOs submit requests for exemptions in a letter containing 10 specific elements such as detailed descriptions and quantities of the items to be sent to North Korea.

Late last year, South Korea's unification ministry approved the plan; however, the delivery of the packages was put on hold because of the U.S. and U.N. economic sanctions.

The official said its aid packages didn't include cash payments and will include medical equipment and drugs after some raised worries that the funds might be used for the North Korean military.

In a report in April this year, UNICEF said 40 percent of the North Korean population is “in need of” humanitarian aid. “Under-nutrition continues to be a serious concern with more than one-quarter of children's growth stunted due to a lack of adequate food,” the report said.

Regarding future plans, the government official said it will talk with the U.S. and U.N. Security Council in searching for opportunities for expanded humanitarian assistance.

Following the summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore, June, Trump said economic sanctions on North Korea would be lifted once Pyongyang has made “significant progress” with the denuclearization process.

South Korea's decision to resume aid programs came more than two years after such programs were halted in January 2016 after North Korea conducted a nuclear test at that time.