The U.N. has granted the World Health Organization (WHO) a new sanctions exemption to send laboratory equipment to North Korea to help combat vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs).

The WHO will have until Feb. 2026 to transfer critical medical supplies and laboratory equipment to the DPRK under the exemption, according to a notice posted by the U.N. Security Council’s 1718 Sanctions Committee.

The purpose of the shipments is to enhance the regime’s capacity to diagnose and manage VPDs, including by equipping the DPRK’s National Laboratory with necessary tools to improve its public health infrastructure and support disease control programs targeting vulnerable populations,