The World Health Organization (WHO) has received a sanctions exemption to ship laboratory equipment for vaccines to North Korea, as the U.N. agency supports a new campaign to vaccinate over 1 million people in the country.

The U.N. Security Council’s 1718 Sanctions Committee has granted the WHO an exemption until Aug. 25, 2025 to send centrifuges, shakers, microscopes and other lab gear to the DPRK. The equipment will be shipped to either Nampho or Sinuiju on Feb. 1, 2025, according to the notice.

The materials are “aimed at controlling and preventing vaccine preventable diseases, as well as equipping the National