NK News (file) | A man sits in a field in Kangwon province on April 16, 2018
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.
Disaster
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.
Ethan Jewell is a Seoul-based correspondent for NK News focused on sanctions, trade and maritime issues. He previously worked as an investigations and intelligence specialist for Pinkerton Comprehensive Risk Management and as a research intern for the Brookings Institution's Center for East Asia Policy Studies. Follow Ethan on Twitter @EthanJewell