FOREIGN POLICY/NORTH KOREA/SOUTH KOREA: “South Korea’s government said it would send $8 million in new humanitarian aid to North Korea, despite the nuclear standoff on the peninsula.
The left-leaning administration approved the new aid tranche Thursday, after a meeting of government officials chaired by unification minister Cho Myoung-gyon.
Since taking office in May, President Moon Jae-in has emphasized a two-track approach toward North Korea, supporting tougher sanctions in response to Pyongyang’s weapons tests while opposing military action and leaving the door open to peace talks. He is expected to espouse that strategy in a speech Thursday at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Seoul plans to provide $3.5 million in vaccines and medical aid through Unicef and $4.5 million in food through the U.N. World Food Program for malnourished children and pregnant women, the unification ministry said, with the timing and size of aid deliveries to be determined later.
Since the aid would be provided as medical products and food, not in cash, there was virtually no possibility that it would be diverted for other purposes, the ministry said…
Despite North Korea’s advancing weapons tests, Seoul has said it would maintain humanitarian assistance to North Korea regardless of political situations.”
-Min Sun Lee, “North Korea Nuclear Threats Don’t Stop Aid From South,” The Wall Street Journal online, Sept. 21, 2017 05:49am