Seoul approves $8mn in aid for N. Korea amid ‘worsening food situation’

South Korea approved $8 million in humanitarian aid for the North on Wednesday, authorities said. The move comes as negotiations over Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal are deadlocked and inter-Korean relations at a standstill.

It will be the first such aid Seoul has provided Pyongyang since 2015 and follows the North’s lowest recorded harvest for a decade, according to the UN.

The donation will be made through the UN. The South’s President Moon Jae-in is seeking to salvage diplomacy between Pyongyang and Washington following the breakdown of the Hanoi summit, when Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump failed to reach a deal on Pyongyang’s nuclear program and sanctions relief.

North Korea has since largely cut off contact with both Seoul and Washington.