Korea provided no humanitarian assistance to North Korea in 2024 at both government and private levels, marking the first-ever complete halt since Seoul began its aid efforts in 1995, data from the Unification Ministry showed Wednesday.
The cessation follows a steady decline over the past five years. According to the ministry, aid amounted to 10 billion won ($6.9 million) in 2023, down from 26 billion won in 2022 and 31 billion won in 2021. The steepest drop occurred in 2020, when support was nearly halved, falling to 149 billion won from 277 billion won in 2019.
The shifts in aid levels align with changes in inter-Korean relations.
Aid had seen an increase in 2019 under the Moon Jae-in administration, which prioritized economic cooperation and humanitarian assistance as part of a broader strategy to improve ties with Pyongyang. This approach was further reinforced by diplomatic momentum from the 2018 Panmunjom Declaration between the Koreas and the 2019 summit between North Korea and US in Hanoi, Vietnam.
However, these efforts collapsed after the Hanoi Summit ended without an agreement between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
In the following years, inter-Korean relations deteriorated further, culminating in North Korea demolishing the inter-Korean liaison office in Kaesong in June 2020. Soon after, Pyongyang sealed its borders due to COVID-19, effectively shutting out nearly all external assistance and reinforcing its isolationist stance.
In 2022, President Yoon Suk Yeol’s new administration adopted a more restrictive stance on inter-Korean exchanges, leading to a further decline in humanitarian aid.
The sharp reduction also reflects North Korea’s increasing reluctance to accept external aid, according to Unification Ministry officials.
"North Korea has largely refused outside aid in recent years, except for limited cases involving UNICEF, and has become even more adamant in rejecting support from South Korea," a Unification Ministry official said.
In 2023, Pyongyang rejected Seoul’s offer of flood relief. It has reportedly pressured foreign nongovernmental organizations to exclude South Korean funds from their operations.
South Korea began providing humanitarian aid to North Korea in 1995, when Seoul sent 1.85 trillion won in assistance, including 150,000 tons of rice, to help Pyongyang recover from devastating floods.
Over the 30 years, Seoul's aid to Pyongyang peaked in 2007 under the liberal Roh Moo-hyun administration, but mostly declined in the following years due to North Korea’s nuclear and missile development. The sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan in a North Korean torpedo attack in 2010 accelerated the reduction in aid.
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