The United Nations on Thursday called for $98 million in urgent funding to address North Korea’s most pressing humanitarian issues.
UN Resident Coordinator Ghulam Isaczai called for more international donations after only one-third of the required $150 million in funding has been received so far this year.
Millions of North Koreans are in need of support for nutrition, agriculture, health and sanitation.
Isaczai said that around 2.4 million people, especially children, nursing mothers and the elderly, depend on regular food assistance from the UN.
“Without sustained humanitarian support, the gains made in the past 10 years in improving food security and the overall health and nutrition of the most vulnerable ... could be quickly reversed,” Isaczai said.
Isaczai said he hoped donor countries will respond “quickly and generously,” despite mounting criticism of North Korea’s hostile international relations, especially towards South Korea and the United States.
“Separating humanitarian needs from political issues is a prerequisite for a sustainable improvement in the condition of people,” Isaczai said.
According to the UN, 16 million people in North Korea are in constant food insecurity.