Last Year, International Community Provided 2.8 Billion KRW to North Korea... Sharp Decrease Due to Border Closure

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The total amount of humanitarian aid North Korea received from the international community last year was $2,338,232 (approximately 2.8 billion KRW).

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Financial Tracking Service (FTS) on the 22nd, the countries that sent aid to North Korea in 2022 were Switzerland, Sweden, and Norway. Switzerland provided the largest amount of $1,624,704 through UNICEF and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Sweden supported $513,927 through the Swedish Red Cross, and Norway sent $199,601 via the Norwegian Red Cross.

The scale of international aid to North Korea last year was only 1.9% of the $117.79 million provided in 2012, the first year of Kim Jong-un's rule. After North Korea's nuclear and missile provocations in 2016 and 2017, aid remained around $30 to $40 million but sharply declined from $41.88 million in 2020 to $14.03 million in 2021, and shrank further to $2.33 million last year. This is interpreted as a result of North Korea closing its borders from 2020 to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and governments worldwide having reduced financial capacity due to pandemic responses.

Meanwhile, as of January 4 this year, North Korea has received $1,214,128 in aid. As in the previous year, Switzerland donated through UNICEF under the pretext of child nutrition supply.

OCHA continues to update statistics as additional humanitarian aid occurs. Notably, last month, the United Nations Security Council overwhelmingly adopted a resolution exempting humanitarian aid from all current and future sanctions, drawing attention to whether aid to North Korea will increase. Although humanitarian aid is already specified as an exception in North Korea sanctions, the international consensus that humanitarian aid is exempt from sanctions could foster a positive atmosphere for aid to North Korea.

The key issue is North Korea's attitude. Currently, North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong-un officially refuses overseas aid, so it is uncertain whether support from the international community, including South Korea and the United States, will flow further into North Korea. The Workers' Party newspaper Rodong Sinmun stated in an article on the 18th, "Imperialists do not give charity to anyone. When they say they will give something, it is because they have ulterior motives," and claimed, "Their 'aid' and 'advanced technology' are to enslave others, and their talk of 'alliance' and 'cooperation' is to dominate others."

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