OPEC Sends Aid to North Korea

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has decided to provide $250,000 to North Korea to help improve water supplies and sanitation, South Korea's state-run trade promotion agency said Wednesday.

The aid, which will be provided through the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), is aimed at providing safe drinking water to North Korean people by improving sanitation facilities in the country's eastern and northern regions, the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency said. The UN agency has pushed for emergency relief to provide water supplies and overhaul sanitation facilities for North Koreans in cooperation with other international organizations as the quality of drinking water declines and the danger of water-borne diseases increases.

OPEC's commitment of aid to the North comes a week after UNICEF executive director Carol Bellamy said here that water treatment stations are not working adequately in the North, nor the pumps that deliver the water, due to power shortages.