UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th September, 2019) The United Nations had received a letter sent by North Korea's government requesting to cut the number of international personnel in the country, UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a press briefing on Thursday.
On Wednesday, media reported that North Korea's National Coordinating Committee for the United Nations Secretary-General Kim Chang Min had told the organization to cut the number of its staff citing politicization of UN humanitarian assistance.
"We have, indeed, received a letter from DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] authorities, we are in dialogue with the government at this point on the issue of cutting international aid staff in DPRK," Dujarric confirmed. "We are stating that the UN and international NGOs [non-governmental organizations] reached over 2 million people with humanitarian aid in 2018, including food, security, nutrition and health projects."
Dujarric added that the current UN operations are already insufficient, emphasizing the need to maintain the current level of staffing to ensure UN support for food security, water, nutrition as well as mobilizing resources.
The move came amid the decision of North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho to skip the UN General Assembly in New York this September.
Commenting on the decision, Dujarric said, "It is their sovereign decision, the Secretary-General [Antonio Guterres], obviously, looks forward to a dialogue with the representative coming from Pyongyang."
In May, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the WFP published a joint report concluding that over 10 million people in North Korea, or 40 percent of the country's population, suffer from severe food shortages. The limited supply of agricultural inputs in 2018 following the worst harvest in 10 years and international sanctions were listed as the causes for the shortages.
In February, North Korea asked international humanitarian organizations for aid in amid nationwide food shortages provoked by low crop production and tightened food rationing.
