Korea to offer $1 mil. in humanitarian aid to Ukraine over dam destruction

The foreign ministry building in Seoul / Korea Times file

Korea plans to offer humanitarian aid worth $1 million to Ukraine to assist the country's people affected by the catastrophic destruction of a dam earlier this month, Seoul's foreign ministry said Thursday.

"The government has been providing ongoing support for the Ukrainian citizens suffering from the war, and it has decided to provide additional aid considering the urgent humanitarian needs resulting from the dam destruction," Lim Soo-suk, spokesperson for the ministry, told a regular press briefing.

The destruction of the Kakhovka dam in Ukraine's southern region of Kherson on June 6 has sparked a humanitarian crisis in the country already suffering from its war with Russia. The destruction has left some 40 towns flooded and around 16,000 people without homes and access to drinking water.

Seoul's latest aid to Ukraine will be delivered through international organizations, including the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the International Committee of the Red Cross. (Yonhap)