June 02, 2023
News

New unification minister encourages World Food Program to help North Korea

Kwon Young-se says food aid to DPRK should not be affected by state of inter-Korean relations or other political issues

South Korea’s unification minister met with the executive director of the World Food Program (WFP) for the first time on Wednesday, saying the Yoon administration will push humanitarian aid projects related to food for North Korea “regardless of political and military climate.”

Kwon Young-se’s remarks reinforce earlier statements by the Yoon administration that it will delink human rights and humanitarianism from its broader goal of denuclearization — even though President Yoon Suk-yeol has made denuclearization a precondition for broader Seoul-Pyongyang cooperation.