Information Committee Holds Meeting with National Intelligence Service: "US Expressed Willingness to Support Vaccines via UN Last Month"

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Hyun-seok] The United States conveyed its willingness to provide COVID-19 vaccines to North Korea through the United Nations last month. However, this expression of intent is not official from the U.S. government but is known as a movement from some quarters within the United States.

On the 21st, the National Intelligence Service reported on North Korea's situation, including discussions on U.S. vaccine support for North Korea, during a meeting with the chairman of the National Assembly Intelligence Committee and the ruling and opposition party secretaries.

Kim Kyung-hyup, chairman of the National Assembly Intelligence Committee, told Yonhap News Agency, "The vaccine was offered in a format provided by the United Nations," adding, "Kim Song, North Korea's ambassador to the UN, showed considerable interest. He asked, 'What kind of vaccine is it? Pfizer or Moderna?' and said he would report it to Pyongyang." The support method is known to use UN-affiliated organizations.

He said, "It seems that the U.S. expressed its willingness to provide vaccines from the perspective of humanitarian aid and global epidemic cooperation," and added, "The Vatican also expressed willingness to provide vaccines."

However, contact with Ambassador Kim Song was made in December last year, and no response from North Korea has been received yet.

Voices from U.S. political circles, academia, and media have previously called for support to North Korea on humanitarian grounds.

Along with this, the National Intelligence Service also reported on the Politburo meeting held on the 19th under the chairmanship of Kim Jong-un, General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea.

He conveyed, "North Korea's intention is that if the U.S. does not take corresponding measures to their suspension of nuclear tests and ICBM launches, they will reconsider (nuclear tests and ICBM launches)."

He added, "Since the U.S. attention has shifted away from North Korea due to issues in Ukraine and the Middle East, from North Korea's perspective, measures to attract U.S. attention were probably necessary."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.