U.S. Excludes North Korea From Foreign Aid Candidate List Again Next Year

[Financial News] The U.S. government has excluded North Korea from next year’s list of candidate countries eligible for foreign aid.
Voice of America (VOA) reported on the 3rd, citing a candidate-country report from the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a U.S. foreign-aid agency, that is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register, that "North Korea was excluded from the list of candidate countries eligible for foreign aid in fiscal year 2027." In addition to North Korea, 13 countries—including Iran and Afghanistan—were reportedly classified as ineligible to receive U.S. foreign aid.
North Korea is classified each year as a country ineligible for aid because of various restrictions under U.S. law. The Millennium Challenge Corporation cited the human-trafficking situation as one of the reasons for restricting foreign aid to North Korea. The United States Department of State classifies North Korea as a Tier 3 country, the lowest ranking, in its annual Trafficking in Persons Report.
[email protected] Hong Chae-wan Reporter