UPDATE (Aug. 21, 2020 at 5:32 p.m.): This article now includes comments from UNICEF spokesperson Caroline den Dulk on the closure of Dalian-Nampho sea route between China and North Korea.

South Korea’s Gyeonggi Province and a non-governmental organization (NGO) have jointly delivered COVID-19 test kits and other items to North Korea through the Sino-DPRK border, Seoul’s unification ministry and the NGO confirmed to NK News on Friday.

Items were delivered to Sinuiju, North Korea on Aug. 13 after leaving Incheon port in South Korea on Aug. 7 and arriving in Dandong, China the next day, according to the Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation Research Center (IKECRC). They included COVID-19 diagnostic kits for 10,000 tests, 10,000 protective suits, PCR machines and thermal imaging cameras.

The IKECRC’s delivery, worth 800 million won ($674,054), was approved by South Korea’s Ministry of Unification (MOU) on July 30.

One of those responsible for the transfer, who asked for anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, told NK News that it is not yet known if the delivered items have reached Pyongyang.

IKECRC received sanctions exemptions from the United Nations (U.N.) in mid-July to send twenty thermal imaging cameras to North Korean schools, ports and hospitals “to identify cases of community-based infections.”

A few days later, the U.N. also approved the group’s delivery of African Swine Fever (ASF) diagnostic equipment. This included one refrigerator and one freezer manufactured by LG, a major South Korean conglomerate.

Under new unification minister Lee In-young, South Korea has approved multiple new COVID-19 aid deliveries to the North in recent days.

South Korea has so far permitted six private aid projects to help the North prevent and handle a potential COVID-19 outbreak, allowing groups to send hand sanitizers (approved March 31), hazmat suits (April 21), COVID-19 test kits and other items (July 30), thermal imaging cameras (Aug. 5) and masks (Aug. 6).

Most recently, on Aug. 12, the MOU approved another private South Korean organization to send protective suits worth 180 million won ($151,815) across the border, a ministry official told NK News on Friday. The MOU did not give the name of the group, as per their standard practice.

The Dandong-Sinuiju land route is currently one of the few border points open for incoming foreign aid. UNICEF on Thursday evening confirmed to NK News that the Dalian-Nampho sea route between China and North Korea remains closed.

“UNICEF is following up closely with the [DPRK] Government on when the Dalian-Nampho port will reopen,” Caroline den Dulk, spokesperson for the U.N. agency said on Thursday.

“With the support of the Ministry of Public Health, UNICEF managed to bring in [a] third shipment of vaccines (Hepatitis B) and PPEs/thermometers through the land route during the first and second week of August respectively,” she added.

Edited by James Fretwell