Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message to the 2021 Korea Global Forum for Peace — International Community and United Nations Roles for Permanent Peace on the Korean Peninsula, held today:

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that half a million people in parts of Balochistan province in Pakistan are facing crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity.  Another 100,000 people need immediate life-saving assistance due to severe drought-like conditions.

The Security Council, acting through its temporary written silence procedure today, extended until 30 April 2022 the mandate of the panel of experts assisting the committee which oversees its sanctions against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

At least 14 civilians were killed in an attack by suspected combatants of the ADF on Sunday night in Bulongo village, east of Beni, the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo reported.  The Mission’s Force Intervention Brigade deployed to the area yesterday.

On 30 November 2020, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1718 (2006) approved updates to its seventh implementation assistance notice entitled “Guidelines for Obtaining Exemptions to Deliver Humanitarian Assistance to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea”, which was adopted by the Committee on 6 August 2018.  The updated implementation assistance notice provides additional guidance on the humanitarian exemption mechanism and is available on the Committee’s website in all official languages of the United Nations (https://www.un.org/securitycouncil/sanctions/1718/implementation-notices and https://www.un.org/securitycouncil/sanctions/1718/exemptions‑measures/humanitarian-exemption-requests).

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said carbon dioxide continues to be at record highs, despite COVID-19 lockdowns around the world.  According to the WMO Greenhouse Gas Bulletin, carbon dioxide levels saw a growth spurt in 2019 and the annual global average breached the significant threshold of 410 parts per million.

The United Nations and humanitarian partners today released a tri-national action plan seeking $10.4 million to support Government responses over the next year to urgent needs in the border area between Colombia, Peru and Brazil, which currently has the world’s highest COVID-19 mortality rates per 100,000 people.

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message for the 2020 Korea Global Forum for Peace, in New York today:

Polio immunization campaigns have resumed in Afghanistan and Pakistan, months after COVID-19 left 50 million children without their polio vaccines, UNICEF said today.  There is concern that up to 1 million children in Afghanistan could miss out as door-to-door vaccinations are not possible in some areas.

The United Nations is scaling up life-saving aid for north-west Syria, including health items to prepare for the COVID-19 pandemic.  In May alone, it sent 1,781 trucks from Turkey, the highest number since cross-border operations began in 2014, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports.