Archive for July, 2014

Newer Entries »

UK government gives US$660,000 to DPRK in 2013

Thursday, July 10th, 2014

According to the Daily NK:

The British government donated $660,000 USD in Official Development Assistance (ODA) to North Korea last year, according to a Voice of America (VOA) report released on July 9th.

The report, citing a British government fiscal report, stated that more than half of the total sum, $342,000 USD, was spent by the British Council on English language education programs in Pyongyang. The program has been in place since the beginning of the century, when the two states established formal relations, and was recently extended to 2017.

Outside this sum, $167,000 USD was given to assist the rescue work of the Chosun Red Cross Society, while the British government also facilitated the participation of a North Korean athlete in the International Paralympics, and provided training for North Korean officials.

The British government has, throughout the life of bilateral relations, cleaved to a policy of critical engagement with the Kim regime, which, according to the official London stance, allows for harsh criticism of human rights and other abuses whilst also providing for progress in other areas.

Additional information:

1. Martyn Williams catalogs UK activities in the DPRK over the last few years here.

2. British Council forges new UK/North Korea cultural ties (Press Release on 2014-7-15)

3. Previous posts on the UK here.

Read the full story here:
British Government Gives $660,000 to North Korea
Daily NK
Moon Eun Joo
2014-7-10

Share

Posted in Foreign aid statistics, International Aid, Statistics, United Kingdom | Comments Closed

China donates US$1m in food assistance

Tuesday, July 8th, 2014

According to Yonhap:

China donated US$1 million to the World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations’ food assistance body, to help feed malnourished North Korean children and pregnant women, a U.S. report said Tuesday.

The donation will be used to provide food to around 1.8 million North Korean babies, children and expecting mothers, according to the report by the Washington-based Voice of America.

China has previously donated the same amount of money for WFP’s North Korean assistance program last December.

Since the beginning of 2014, WFP has collected $49 million in donations for North Korean food assistance from countries such as Switzerland, Australia and Canada.

The amount accounts for only 35 percent of what WFP needs to accomplish their food aid programs for North Korea in the first half of this year.

Read the full story here:
China donates US$1 mln to help feed N. Korean children
Yonhap
2014-7-8

Share

Posted in 2014 Food Shortage, China, Food, UN World Food Program | Comments Closed

DPRK-Russia ties expanding

Thursday, July 3rd, 2014

According to Yonhap:

Cross-border trade between North Korea and Russia jumped 37 percent to US$104 million in 2013 from the $76 million recorded in the previous year, according to a report by Lee Yong-hwa, a researcher at the private think tank Hyundai Research Institute.

“The North is believed to have forged deeper relations with Russia in an effort to revitalize its economy and prevent it from becoming excessively dependent on China,” Lee said in the report.

The researcher said the two countries’ economic cooperation is forecast to grow further going forward as the North’s attempts to revitalize its moribund economy coincide with Russia’s bid to develop its Far Eastern regions.

According to the report, the portion of trade between North Korea and Far Eastern Russia out of the two nations’ total trade volume surged to 23.1 percent in 2013 from the 10 percent tallied in 2009, indicating that Russia’s Far East development policies have added to the overall bilateral trade expansion.

The socialist country has also tightened relations with Russia in other business areas including transportation and logistics as well as in the energy industry, the report added.

China was the biggest trading partner for North Korea last year with their bilateral trade volume reaching $6.54 billion, according to data from the Korea International Trade Association (KITA).

But trade between the two Koreas fell to its lowest level in eight years in 2013 due to their strained relations. Inter-Korean trade reached $1.15 billion last year, down a whopping 41.9 percent from the previous year’s $1.98 billion, the data showed.

Read the full story here:
Russia-N. Korea economic ties expanding: report
Yonhap
2014-7-3

Share

Posted in International trade, Russia, Statistics, Trade Statistics | Comments Closed

Aid to DPRK drops in H1 2014

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2014

According to Yonhap:

International humanitarian assistance to North Korea tumbled nearly 50 percent in the first half of this year from a year earlier, a U.S. radio report said Wednesday.

Citing the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the Washington-based Voice of America said North Korea received US$19.6 million of humanitarian aid in the January-June period, down 45 percent from the same period last year.

The report, however, gave no reason for the on-year plunge.

Six countries offered aid to the impoverished country during the six-month period, down from 10 a year earlier.

Switzerland led the pack with $3.82 million, followed by Sweden and Canada. No data was available on aid from Australia, Germany, Italy and Ireland, which provided assistance to the communist country last year, the report said.

Over 65 percent of the aid has been allocated to improve food security and nutrition in the country, it added.

So far this year, the U.N. has extended $6.49 million in the Central Emergency Relief Fund (CERF) to five of its agencies working in the communist state. The CERF is a type of pooled funds managed by the OCHA to assist humanitarian operations in any country experiencing acute or large, on-going crises.

Read the full story here:
Humanitarian aid to N. Korea nearly halves in H1: report
Yonhap
2014-7-2

Share

Posted in Foreign aid statistics, International Aid | Comments Closed

Newer Entries »