North Korea silent after South explains offer of COVID aid via hotline: MOU

Unification ministry says it detailed plans to provide vaccines and other aid after trying to send letter last week

Ifang Bremer | Jeongmin Kim May 23, 2022

North Korea silent after South explains offer of COVID aid via hotline: MOU

A South Korean soldier connects with a North Korean counterpart on one of four hotlines reestablished this week, July 27, 2021 | Image: Ministry of National Defense

South Korea explained to North Korea its offer to provide COVID-19 aid on Monday via an inter-Korean hotline, Seoul’s Ministry of Unification (MOU) said, but Pyongyang remained unresponsive to the proposal.

Monday’s call comes a week after South Korea attempted to deliver a letter to North Korea detailing plans to provide vaccines, masks and COVID-19 test kits to help the DPRK fight an ongoing outbreak of COVID-19, which has led to a nationwide lockdown and 67 confirmed deaths so far.

About the Authors

Ifang Bremer

Ifang Bremer is a Seoul Correspondent at NK News. He has worked on investigations for The Guardian and The Observer and previously wrote features on Korea for Dutch newspaper NRC.

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Jeongmin Kim

Jeongmin Kim is a Lead Correspondent at NK News, based in Seoul. Kim covers inter-Korean and DPRK-related foreign, defense and humanitarian affairs, and has covered the 2022 ROK Presidential election on the ground. Prior to joining NK News, she worked for the CSIS Korea Chair in Washington D.C. and Reuters news agency's Seoul bureau. Follow her on Twitter @jeongminnkim

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