September 26, 2023
News

Humanitarian aid for North Korea dwindles to lowest level on record: Data

Donors have committed just $15.4 million in 2021 as DPRK’s COVID isolation impedes efforts to help the most vulnerable

Humanitarian aid funding to North Korea has fallen to the lowest level ever this year, U.N. data shows, as two years of extreme virus measures have driven out aid workers and undercut efforts to send assistance.

According to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affair’s (OCHA) Financial Tracking Service (FTS), donors committed just $15.4 million to the DPRK this year through Dec. 28 — the lowest amount since the U.N. started tracking funds in 2000. By comparison, aid to North Korea in 2020 totaled $40.3 million, with the previous low of $24.5 million occurring in 2010.