The South Korean government has approved a £5.9m humanitarian aid package for North Korea, a move likely to anger the US and Japan.
The decision comes just weeks after the UN voted to impose fresh sanctions on the rogue state in response to Pyongyang’s sixth and most powerful nuclear test.
However, the South’s Unification Ministry said its aid policy remained “unaffected by geopolitical tensions” with the North, Reuters reports.
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This is the first time Seoul has approved an aid package for its northern neighbour since 2015, though the government has yet to confirm when exactly it will be delivered.
The aid will be distributed by United Nations agencies including Unicef, which has called for urgent relief for North Korean children suffering from chronic malnutrition, says Quartz.
“Liberal South Korean governments have a track record of providing aid to its neighbour even amid serious provocations,” the site says, adding that although President Moon Jae In has pledged his support for stronger sanctions on Kim Jong Un’s regime, he still favours a more conciliatory approach.
But most South Koreans disagree. A recent poll found that more than half think aid to the North should be suspended if Pyongyang does not abandon its nuclear weapons programme.
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