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N. Korea asks UN for medical aid during biochemical experiment controversy

July 6, 2015

(Yonhap/KCNA)

North Korea announced less than a month ago that it is currently experiencing its worst drought in over a century in what was interpreted as a signal for help from other countries.

Now they are asking the United Nations (U.N.) directly for medical aid to help deal with water-borne illnesses as both the quantity and quality of the country’s drinking supply are quickly diminishing.

The U.N., World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agricultural Organization assessed the North’s situation in June and found that the health threats were indeed a risk to the general population, especially to women and children under five according to Yonhap News Agency.

The three groups also concluded that given current conditions, the North will not be able to deal with the effects of the drought on its own.

So far Iran and China have agreed to help with humanitarian needs and South Korea has also offered a helping hand under the condition that the North make a public request.

The U.S. on the other hand stated that it has analyzed the situation overseas and decided not to provide any aid.

It has offered assistance to North Korea in the past as recent as 2012 in return for halting both the country’s nuclear weapons program and missile development — a stipulation that was not honored and therefore yielded no aid for the communist country.

But North Korea’s latest controversy regarding the alleged testing of biochemical weapons on the country’s disabled population will very likely complicate the situation in the U.N.’s decision to help in the midst of an 18-month drought.

A North Korean defector is currently stationed in Finland and plans to share data from human experiments later this month in front of the European Parliament.