Norway promises to keep up humanitarian aid to North Korea

This October 2015 photo, taken by a World Food Programme (WFP) official, shows North Korean children at a nursery. Korea Times file (Captured from WFP website)

By Jung Da-min

The Norwegian government is continuing its humanitarian aid to North Korea.

Support for North Korea totaled about $1.6 million last year, according to Marianne Hagen, state secretary of the country's ministry of foreign affairs.

"Last year, 14.5 million Norwegian kroner ― approximately $1.6 million ― were provided in bilateral humanitarian assistance channeled through the International Red Cross Federation (IFRC) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)," Hagen wrote in an email to Radio Free Asia (RFA), Tuesday.

She said the Norwegian government will continue supporting the vulnerable population in North Korea, as there is still considerable need for humanitarian aid. This year's budget amount is yet to be decided.

A Norwegian government delegation visited North Korea from Nov. 24 to Nov. 30 to meet officials of the North Korean government and representatives of the World Food Programme (WFP) and other international organizations in the North. The delegation visited WFP's program sites in Sinwon County, South Hwanghae Province.

The Norwegian government was the fifth-largest contributor to the U.N.'s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) in 2018. North Korea received about $10 million from CERF last year, as the 16th largest recipient out of 47 countries.