The U.N. transferred a million U.S. dollars to a North Korean bank account last month for the reported purpose of supporting humanitarian work inside the country, a U.N. document seen by NK News shows.

Outside groups have struggled to establish a direct banking channel to North Korea for years due to sanctions and other restrictions. Efforts to connect the DPRK’s Foreign Trade Bank (FTB) came to a screeching halt in 2021 as well.

That has left humanitarian agencies and embassies in North Korea with no option but to regularly top up accounts by having personnel fly into the country with