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.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
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.
-
‘My donation felt like a rejection of the day’s politics’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Trump wants a weaker dollar but economists aren’t so sureTalking Points A weaker dollar can make imports more expensive but also boost gold
-
Political cartoons for February 3Cartoons Tuesday’s political cartoons include empty seats, the worst of the worst of bunnies, and more
-
Israel retrieves final hostage’s body from GazaSpeed Read The 24-year-old police officer was killed during the initial Hamas attack
-
China’s Xi targets top general in growing purgeSpeed Read Zhang Youxia is being investigated over ‘grave violations’ of the law
-
Panama and Canada are negotiating over a crucial copper mineIn the Spotlight Panama is set to make a final decision on the mine this summer
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
-
Iran cuts internet as protests escalateSpeed Reada Government buildings across the country have been set on fire
-
US nabs ‘shadow’ tanker claimed by RussiaSpeed Read The ship was one of two vessels seized by the US military
-
How Bulgaria’s government fell amid mass protestsThe Explainer The country’s prime minister resigned as part of the fallout
-
Femicide: Italy’s newest crimeThe Explainer Landmark law to criminalise murder of a woman as an ‘act of hatred’ or ‘subjugation’ but critics say Italy is still deeply patriarchal
