UNDP to suspend aid program for N. Korea next year

UNDP to suspend aid program for N. Korea next year. September. 02, 2016 07:17. by 주성하기자 zsh75@donga.com.

The United Nations Development Plan (UNDP) will temporarily halt its assistance to North Korea, U.S.-based Radio Free Asia reported on Thursday. "Assistance to the North was not on the agendas for the UNDP’s regular board meeting to be held at the U.N. headquarters in New York in early October," the news outlet said. "The UNDP did not request its board to extend the North Korea program, which would end soon."

The UNDP’s North Korea program involves six U.N. agencies including the U.N. International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme, and the World Health Organization. The UNDP provided aid worth 4.3 million U.S. dollars between 2011 and 2015 under the program. But U.N. agencies’ independent North Korea aid programs will reportedly continue. The World Food Programme has already approved a 125.86 million dollar program for providing 150,000 tons of food for the North.

Separately, South Korea’s Ministry of Unification said Thursday that in next year’s budget, it has newly set aside 15.2 billion won (13.5 million dollars) for North Korean human rights issues. It has allocated 13.4 billion won (11.9 million dollars) to the North Korea Human Rights Foundation, another 960 million won (855,234 dollars) to the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights, and 540 million won (481,069 dollars) to drawing up and implementing North Korea human rights policies.