South Korea has officially decided to provide eight-million U.S. dollars to the World Food Program(WFP) and UNICEF for aid projects in North Korea. 

The government finalized the decision during a meeting of the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Promotion Council on Wednesday. Seoul is expected to transfer the money as soon as next week. 

Four-and-a-half million dollars of the aid will go to the WFP to help boost nourishment of North Korean infants and pregnant women while three-and-a-half million dollars will be used by UNICEF to treat dysentery in 450-thousand children under the age of five as well as the procurement and distribution of pneumonia medication for two-point-eight million people. 

The government initially planned to provide eight-million dollars worth of humanitarian assistance to the North in 2017 but delayed implementation over concerns it could contravene the U.S. maximum pressure strategy against Pyongyang over its nuclear and missile provocations. 

The government decided to pursue the provision again during a meeting of the top office’s National Security Council on May 17th.

[Photo : KBS News]