The UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator (ERC)  will visit North Korea from July 9 to July 12, the first such visit since 2011.

According to a press release from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) released on Friday, Under Secretary-General Mark Lowcock will meet with North Korean officials and visit UN projects in the DPRK.

“Mr. Lowcock is undertaking the visit now to see for himself the work of humanitarians and to highlight the extremely low level of funding which comes at a time when humanitarian access has improved,” OCHA spokesperson Russell Geekie told