Norway maintains aid to North Korea

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un provides guidance to the skiing training of the mountain infantry battalion under KPA Unit 1045 in this undated picture provided by KCNA in Pyongyang on November 26, 2016. Photo:KCNA/via Reuters

Although the UN has decided to sharpen resolutions against North Korea, Norwegian humanitarian assistance in the country has continued.

For 20 years, Norway has been helping vulnerable groups in the isolated country.

‘The sanctions are designed so that there will not be adverse humanitarian consequences for the civilian population in North Korea, or be targeted at work that international organizations
are doing for the needy population’, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (UD).

Foreign Minister Børge Brende of the Høyre Party said that Norway supports the UN resolution and prays for the regime in North Korea to cooperate with the international community.

‘North Korea’s nuclear program threatens peace and stability in East Asia, and globally. It also hampers diplomatic solutions and dialogue with North Korea’, said Brende.

The sanctions were unanimously passed by the UN Security Council on Wednesday, and are the strictest ever introduced against the communist state.

The aim is to push the country to renounce its nuclear weapons program by closing loopholes which exist in the current sanctions. Also introduced, are travel restrictions and the freezing of assets for many more of the regime’s members.

In March, the Security Council imposed strict economic sanctions against North Korea following their nuclear weapons tests in January.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today