Plans to Provide North Korea with KRW 9.3 Billion in Medical Equipment Free of Charge... A One-Sided Gift with No Response from North Korea?

[Financial News] The Ministry of Unification (MOU) is reportedly planning to provide North Korea with medical equipment worth USD 6.75 million, or approximately KRW 9.3 billion. The assistance would include more than 1,400 medical items, such as X-ray equipment. However, the MOU has yet to confirm whether North Korea is willing to receive the supplies.
According to data the MOU submitted on the 20th to Kim Dae-sik of the People Power Party, a member of the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee of the National Assembly, the government plans to send 1,431 medical equipment items across 166 categories to Pyongyang Gangdong County Hospital. Kim Jong Un, North Korea's chairman of the State Affairs Commission, has shown particular interest in the hospital and personally encouraged its opening.
The equipment includes diagnostic X-ray machines, stethoscopes, blood pressure monitors, operating tables, therapeutic defibrillators and ventilators. The MOU selected 166 types of essential medical equipment with assistance from the Korea Foundation for International Healthcare (KOFIH). In May, it also received approval for a sanctions exemption for the humanitarian provision of medical equipment from the UN Security Council Sanctions Committee on North Korea, a body under the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). The chances of the government's plan to provide medical equipment to North Korea becoming reality remain slim. North Korea has kept inter-Korean dialogue severed for years. 


[email protected] Kim Kyung-soo Reporter