The government plans to wrap up discussions this week with international organizations on ways to provide humanitarian aid to North Korea. 

The government has been in such discussions since earlier this month, when it decided to move forward with plans to dispense eight-million dollars to the World Food Program and UNICEF for aid projects in North Korea. 

Unification Ministry Spokesperson Lee Sang-min told reporters on Monday that the discussions are focused on initiating the necessary administrative procedures for the provision of aid.

UNICEF had revealed that it will be receiving three-and-a-half million dollars from the South Korean government, adding that the funds will be used to treat dysentery in 450-thousand children under the age of five as well as on the procurement and distribution of pneumonia medication for two-point-eight million people.

The funding for the aid, which would originate from the inter-Korean Economic Cooperation Fund, would need to overcome a series of administrative hurdles before it could be released.

This includes approval from both the cooperation fund's deliberation committee and Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Promotion Council, as well as a briefing session before the National Assembly.

The decision to provide eight-million dollars in aid to the North was made in 2017, but has been held up over concerns that the provision of such aid may contravene the U.S. maximum pressure strategy against Pyongyang over its nuclear and missile provocations.