A Korean non-governmental organization (NGO) has won the first U.N. Millennium Development Goals Award (MDG Award) for promoting primary education around the globe.

Domestic organization Good Neighbors and an Argentinean group shared the award in the category for NGOs or public offices that have made strides in implementing eight development goals agreed on by U.N. member states in 2000.

Good Neighbors was recognized for its efforts to promote universal primary education by supplying North Korean children with two-thousand tons of textbook paper and running educational facilities in countries such as Kenya and Pakistan.

Mali and the Ivory Coast won the MDG award given to countries that have contributed most to achieving the global goals.

The eight Millennium Development Goals to be realized by 2015 range from realizing primary education to halving extreme poverty, to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS, all targeting the poorest in the world.