Humanitarian Aid to North Korea Requires Monitoring... Support Scale Also Reduced

Ministry of Unification Revises 'Regulations on Handling Humanitarian Aid Projects to North Korea' on the 8th

Koo Byung-sam, spokesperson for the Ministry of Unification, is answering reporters' questions during a regular briefing held at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the morning of the 6th.

Support from the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund for humanitarian aid projects to North Korea by private organizations will be reduced. Projects that do not guarantee monitoring by external personnel will not receive funding.

On the 8th, the Ministry of Unification announced that it will revise and implement the "Regulations on the Handling of Humanitarian Aid Projects and Cooperation Projects for North Korea" (Ministry of Unification Notice) to ensure that humanitarian aid to North Korea is executed more transparently and efficiently. According to the revised notice, the support criteria for the cooperation fund have been reduced from the current "up to 3 times a year" and "within 70% of the total project cost" to "up to once a year" and "within 50% of the total project cost." Local governments have been excluded from the fund support targets.

The Ministry of Unification and local governments cannot receive overlapping support from the cooperation fund. In particular, if it is judged that access to the project site is difficult, funding may not be provided. A Ministry of Unification official explained, "If domestic project organizations cannot directly visit North Korea, it means that credible organizations such as international organizations must be able to monitor the project site," adding, "This is to comply with the universal principles of humanitarian aid in the international community."

Until now, considering the special nature of inter-Korean relations, the executing organizations and project details of humanitarian aid projects to North Korea were kept confidential until settlement. However, going forward, detailed execution records will be disclosed in principle through the national subsidy management system 'e-Naradoom,' just like other national subsidy projects. Even if funds have already been provided, if a situation where transparency cannot be confirmed continues for six months or if the project organization is judged to have neglected its responsibility to ensure transparency, measures such as recovery, compulsory collection, and imposition of penalty surcharges may be taken.

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