South Korea will donate five million U.S. dollars, or about five-point-nine billion won, to the World Health Organization(WHO) to support a humanitarian assistance project for women and children in North Korea.

The Unification Ministry said on Friday that a committee in charge of inter-Korean projects approved the move, drawing on the inter-Korean cooperation fund.

The money will be spent on assessing hospitals and medical schools in the North, training medical personnel and medical supplies and equipment.

Seoul, which suspended North Korea-related donations to the WHO in 2014 amid frayed inter-Korean relations, decided to resume such funding in the hope of lowering the mortality rates of North Korean infants and their mothers.

The decision comes after Pyongyang refused to accept Seoul's provision of rice aid through the World Food Program earlier this year, expressing displeasure with South Korea-U.S. joint military drills.

[Photo : KBS News]