India extends medical aid worth $1mn to N.Korea

India has extended medical assistance worth about USD 1 million to North Korea in response to a request received from the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Ministry of External Affairs said on Friday.

“India is sensitive to the shortage of medical supply situation in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and decided to grant humanitarian assistance of USD 1 million in the form of anti-tuberculosis medicine,” MEA said.

The medical assistance is under the aegis of an ongoing WHO anti-tuberculosis program in DPRK, it said.

The consignment of medicines was handed over to DPRK authorities by Indian Ambassador to DPRK Atul Malhari Gotsurve in the presence of a WHO representative.

The Indian ambassador had recently made into the prime time news in North Korea when he presented a floral basket on the occasion of the eighth anniversary of the conferment of the title of Marshal on Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un.

He also presented a letter of congratulations. An acknowledgment of the basket on national television is a sign that the relationship between the two countries is strong.

India, had in recent years, chose to go public with its relationship with North Korea. In 2015, the foreign minister of North Korea visited India asking for humanitarian aid. The same year Kiren Rijiju visited the Embassy on the occasion of North Korean Independence Day.