A South Korean NGO received sanctions exemptions to deliver COVID-19 emergency aid to North Korea within the next six months.

The Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation Research Center (IKECRC) will deliver 20 thermal imaging cameras to measure body temperature to schools, ports and hospitals within the DPRK.

The thermal imaging cameras will be distributed exclusively to public facilities within North Pyongan Province in order “to identify cases of community-based infections,” a July 17 letter from the United Nations Security Council Committee stated.

The letter was a formal response to a July 15 filing from the IKECRC, meaning the sanctions exemptions potentially took only two days to be approved.

The TE-W300 Zhejiang Dali Technology Company thermal cameras are equipped with a 3.5-inch LCD screen and can measure temperatures ranging from 20 to 50 degrees Celsius, or roughly 68 to 122 degrees Fahrenheit. 

According to product specifications on the Dali Tech website, the cameras are equipped with an alarm that alerts the operator of an abnormal body temperature.

Though North Korean state media continues to claim that the DPRK has zero cases of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus, analysts have routinely speculated that the country has already been infected.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un also held a high-level Politburo meeting to discuss COVID-19 risks in early July, where he scolded a group of DPRK officials for their “inattention” to the pandemic and underscored the need to “hasten” construction of the Pyongyang General Hospital.