North Korea 'accepts American aid' despite claiming the US is its biggest enemy, NGO says

The reports open North Korea to claims of hypocrisy as it has been vocal in its professed hatred of the US and regularly threatens to enact nuclear destruction of the country

(EPA)

North Korea is accepting aid from an American NGO despite claiming that the nation is its biggest enemy, it has been claimed.

The dictatorship is known for its vocal opposition to the US and regularly threatens to wipe the country out with a nuclear strike. However, an American aid organisation has said that it has delivered its first package to North Korea. The Eugene Bell Foundation is a non-government organisation, or NGO, which specialises in distributing treatment for tuberculosis and has successfully delivered its first batch to the regime.

The foundation revealed the news in a “special announcement” seen by The Daily Telegraph, which says: “Despite the ongoing tensions surrounding the Korean peninsula this year, we are happy to announce that our spring shipment of medications and supplies for our multidrug-resistant treatment program have arrived in North Korea.

“We would like to extend a special thanks to all those who have helped make this possible.”

North Korea has high levels of poverty and severe illness as the country lacks basic healthcare resources. It is believed that tuberculosis is common in the secretative state. A 2010 report by Amnesty International titled ‘The Crumbling State of Health Care in North Korea’, suggested that 5 per cent of the population has the condition, describing it as an “epidemic”. The report stated: “Chronic malnutrition has left many North Koreans with a compromised immune system and heightened their susceptibility to infections and diseases. Malnutrition increases risk of infection and is generally regarded as a major risk factor in the onset of active TB.”

The situation has reportedly been exaccerbated in recent times as South Korea cut humanitarian aid to the North in January. The North lacks the resources to produce the medicines on its own and instead relies on imports and donations, prompting concerns that dwindling supplies of medication could run out.

The decision to accept the aid from an American will be seen by some as opening the dictatorship to allegations of hypocrisy. North Korea is fiercely anti-American and routinely threatens to destroy the nation through nuclear warfare. North Korean toddlers in kindergarten learn to attack pictures of US soldiers with rifles and bayonets. The phrase ‘American b*****ds’ has also reportedly been pasted inside many classrooms in North Korea.

The two countries fought against each other during the 1950- 1953 Korean War.