South Korea yesterday decided to resume humanitarian aid to North Korea to help children and pregnant women, but did not determine when to provide the US$8 million of assistance amid tensions created by Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile tests.
Still, the decision is ensured to trigger heated political debates, as many South Koreans have expressed concerns that the aid resumption would distract from efforts to step up sanctions and pressure against the North over its rapidly expanding nuclear weapons program.
South Korea suspended humanitarian aid to North Korea after the country conducted its fourth nuclear test in January last year.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who took office in May, has maintained that the issue of providing humanitarian aid to North Korea should be handled independently from political circumstances.
After a meeting between ministries and civilian experts, the government decided to support programs by the UN Children’s Fund and the UN World Food Programme to provide food and medicines to North Korean children and pregnant women, the South Korean Ministry of Unification said.
The assistance does not include cash and there is “realistically no possibility” that the North could use it to support its military, the ministry said.
The government will decide when to provide the aid, considering the state of relations between the rival Koreas, it added.
The UN has estimated that 18 million of North Korea’s population of 25 million are experiencing varying levels of food shortages, and the country also suffers from high child and maternal mortality rates.
Son Kum-ju, a lawmaker and spokesman of the opposition South Korean People’s Party, said the decision to resume aid was badly timed, because it risks sending mixed signals to the international community that is trying to tighten the screws on Pyongyang.
“The international community is strengthening sanctions and pressure against North Korea and even Moon is in the United States to strengthen international coordination against the North Korean problem,” Son said. “If our government contradicts itself and beats to a different beat, it won’t be able to gain the approval of its own people, let alone other countries.”
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was