Frozen Relations Between North and South Affect Civilians... Only One 'Humanitarian Aid' Case in the First Half of the Year

One Case of 'Humanitarian Aid to North Korea' Export in the First Half of This Year
1.9 Billion Won Approved Since the Inauguration of Yoon Administration Last Year
Prolonged Inter-Korean Tensions... Even the Private Sector Frozen

As the South and North continue their 'strong against strong' standoff, the export of humanitarian aid materials to North Korea amounted to only one case throughout the first half of the year. The prolonged deadlock appears to have frozen even the civilian sector.

According to the Ministry of Unification on the 6th, there were no approvals for the export of humanitarian aid materials to North Korea last month. The only approval this year was for nutritional support (worth approximately 240 million KRW) in March. Under the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Act, when a civilian organization intends to export materials to North Korea for humanitarian purposes, it must obtain approval from the Minister of Unification. Although specific items and organization names are kept confidential, it is generally known that 'konggireum' (soybean oil) is sent.

Humanitarian Aid to North Korea
[Image Source=Yonhap News]

The Ministry of Unification approved a total of 12 cases worth 5.5 billion KRW in humanitarian aid exports to North Korea last year. Since the inauguration of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration in May last year alone, five cases worth 1.94 billion KRW were approved. Both in terms of the number of cases and the amount, humanitarian aid has significantly contracted this year.

The main cause is attributed to North Korea's indiscriminate military provocations. In response, South Korea and the United States have conducted joint exercises and deployed strategic assets, keeping inter-Korean relations in a standoff. In particular, President Yoon Suk-yeol recently announced a major overhaul of the Ministry of Unification, criticizing that "the Ministry of Unification has so far played a role similar to that of the North Korea Aid Department." There are concerns that humanitarian aid might be interpreted as 'helping North Korea.'

Meanwhile, according to Voice of America (VOA), the NGO ACAPS (The Assessment Capacities Project), located in Geneva, Switzerland, released a report analyzing humanitarian aid situations in over 80 countries worldwide on the same day. In the report, ACAPS identified North Korea as a country with 'very high restrictions on access for humanitarian aid' as of the first half of this year. It assessed that government border closures and other measures have worsened the internal crisis.