A foreign media report said the United Nations' humanitarian aid supplies to North Korea were transported on freight trains that resumed operation across the North Korea-China border in January.

According to Radio Free Asia(RFA), citing a UNICEF spokesperson on Wednesday, more than 296-thousand doses of mixed vaccines were delivered from China during the last week of February.

The spokesperson said the mixed vaccines were those used to prevent five diseases that could threaten the life of children, namely diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenzae type b.

While UNICEF had transported health care and nutritional supplies to the North's Nampo region by sea last October, this is the first time such items were delivered on rail since the resumption of the train’s operation.

Pyongyang, meanwhile, continues to refuse COVID-19 vaccines from the international community, despite being assigned eight-point-11 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine by the COVAX Facility, the global vaccine distribution coordinator.

[Photo : YONHAP News]