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National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien speaks at the Department of Foreign Affairs in Pasay City, Metro Manila, the Philippines, on November 23, 2020 (AFP-Yonhap).
SEOUL – The United States will seriously consider helping North Korea contain the spread of the coronavirus if it requests such assistance, Robert O’Brien, national security adviser to President Donald Trump, said Monday.
“They (North Korea) have been reluctant to ask for outside help for things in the past, but if they did, we would certainly take it very seriously,” O’Brien said in an interview with 19FortyFive, a website on global affairs. .
He said Pyongyang appears to have avoided a massive outbreak with “draconian policies” such as blockades and border closures. A week earlier, North Korea, which still claims zero COVID-19 cases, suspended all travel by land, sea and air and closed public facilities, in its strongest anti-virus response.
Experts have said such extreme measures would be a double whammy for North Korea, which suffered a reduction in food production this year due to reduced external supplies and devastating typhoons that destroyed key agricultural lands.
O’Brien added that the US government tries to offer humanitarian assistance to countries seeking help for the floods or pandemic, regardless of which ruling party asks for help.
Also Monday, the United Nations Population Fund estimated that they would need $ 2 million in humanitarian assistance for the North next year, noting that they secured $ 1.6 million for this year. The UN agency provides reproductive health services to assist pregnant women in childbirth.
The latest appeal for help shed light again on another UN body that previously said North Korea did not qualify for international assistance next year.
“We were unable to conduct field assessments and monitor the humanitarian situation in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea due to movement restrictions related to COVID-19 and we were unable to access new verifiable data,” said the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. United Nations, using the official name of the North.
OCHA’s decision to shut out North Korea, given the lack of credible data to fund the impoverished regime, was valid, experts told The Korea Herald.
“If the DPRK refuses to allow OCHA to operate in accordance with its guidelines, then it is the government’s fault that they are not receiving international assistance,” said Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division.
Greg Scarlatoiu, executive director of the North Korean Human Rights Committee, agreed.
“Implementers must be accountable to donors. North Korea must learn to work with international humanitarian assistance. “
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