The South Korean government says it will send five million dollars to North Korea to help mothers and children in the reclusive state.. resuming the aid program suspended in 2014. This, despite the faltering talks with the North.
Our Kim Bo-kyoung tells us more.
The Unification Ministry's South and North Exchange and Cooperation Promotion Council in a meeting this Friday... decided to send 5-milion U.S. dollars for maternal and infant healthcare services in North Korea.
It will be delivered through the World Health Organization,... and will be used in various ways... including for emergency equipment and medical team training.
The aid for mothers and children is being resumed five years after it stopped in 2014.
The government expects this project will lower the death rate of infants and mothers in North Korea.
According to the UNICEF's statistics in 2017, the under-five mortality rate in North Korea was around six times higher than infants in South Korea,... as infants died in 19 out of one-thousand live births in North Korea.
The Maternal Mortality Rate in North Korea in 2017,... which refers to deaths from complications during pregnancy or childbirth... was also around eight times higher than in South Korea.
This is the third time the Moon administration has tried to provide humanitarian aid to North Korea through international organizations.
Previously, South Korea successfully sent 8-million U.S. dollars of nutritional products and medicine to North Korea in September 2017 through the World Food Programme and UNICEF.
South Korea had also planned to send 50-thousand tons of rice to North Korea this June, as the North was suffering from food shortages due to a severe drought.
The World Food Programme was supposed to take charge of overseeing the food donation, but the donation was rejected by North Korea due to Seoul's joint military exercises with the United States.
An official from South Korea's Unification Ministry said this time, the donation has been discussed thoroughly between the WHO and North Korea,... and added it will implement related procedures as soon as possible.
Kim Bo-kyoung, Arirang News.
#aid #NorthKorea #government
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