The UN committee overseeing sanctions on North Korea approved over twice the number of humanitarian exemption requests in 2019 than in the previous year, but did not approve any new designations of violating entities, according to an annual report released in recent days.

The 1718 Sanctions Committee under the UN Security Council (UNSC) stated in their 2019 report that it approved 38 exemptions for aid organizations and representing countries throughout the year, compared to just 15 approved in 2018 amid complaints of U.S. obstruction.