By Greg Donaldson
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia
SEOUL, South Korea – The South Korean government has decided to resume aid to North Korea after a year and a half suspension. In a letter to the United Nations, South Korea requested the remaining seven million of the thirteen million dollar donation it made to the World Health Organization in 2009 for aid to North Korea be released to the North for humanitarian aid purposes.
The announcement comes day after South Korea’s Unification Minister met with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to discuss how to help North Korea. South Korean officials explained the decision “was based upon our belief that purely humanitarian support for the young and vulnerable in North Korea should continue.”
The aid will primarily be used to improve medical services ranging from medical equipment to high-nutrition foods that North Koreans desperately seek.
Originally, South Korea planned to send the full thirteen million dollars of aid to North Korea in 2009 until a South Korean warship was torpedoed by North Korea. The North rejected the accusation but South Korea was unconvinced.
After severe flooding ravaged the North in October, South Korean officials prepared an aid offer to the North of baby food, biscuits, and instant noodles. The North who had earlier requested food, cement, and heavy construction equipment never responded to the aid offer.
South Korea has been frustrated for years by the North’s persistence in developing nuclear weapons. However, the international community has put pressure on South Korea to not punish North Koreans for their government’s actions.
It is estimated that over six million North Koreans need food. After visiting North Korea last month, Valerie Amos the U.N. under-secretary-general for Humanitarian Affairs estimated that one in three North Korean children are malnourished.
Many aid organizations have reported that North Korean children are on average much shorter the South Korean children due to their poor diet. Doctors also report that malnutrition is delaying North Korean children’s cognitive development.
The South Korean government is expected to review other aid options this week while preliminary negotiations begin for a natural gas pipeline from Russia through North and South Korea which would bring billions of dollars a year to both countries
For more information, please see:
New York Times – South Korea Approves Sending Medical Aid to the North – 8 November 2011
The Chosunilbo – S. Korea Resumes Humanitarian Aid to N. Korea – 8 November 2011
Voice of America — South Korea Releases Humanitarian Aid to North, Ending Freeze — 8 November 2011
Yonhap News – Unification Minister to ‘actively consider’ giving aid to N. Korea through U.N – 6 November 2011
