1. Mr. Ham Sang-wook, Deputy Minister for Multilateral and Global Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, attended the “Virtual High-level Pledging Event for Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen” held at 22:00, June 2 - 02:00, June 3, Korea Standard Time, and announced that the government of the Republic of Korea plans to provide 18.5 million U.S. dollars in humanitarian assistance in response to the humanitarian crisis in the Republic of Yemen.

° The Event was co-hosted by the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the largest donor country to Yemen, and the United Nations to mobilize support and contribution from the international community to address the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, which has been further exacerbated by the rapid spread of COVID-19.

° The UN assesses that the yearslong conflict has left about 24 million people of Yemen -- about 80% of its total population -- in need of humanitarian assistance and that the humanitarian crisis in the country is the worst in the world along with that in the Syrian Arab Republic.

° The humanitarian assistance from the ROK government in 2020 will be extended to help respond to COVID-19, resolve food shortages and render assistance to vulnerable populations in Yemen. This includes the Korean rice assistance project, which has been carried out for Yemen on an annual basis since 2018.

2. Deputy Minister Ham reaffirmed the ROK government’s support for the efforts of the international community to bring an end to this conflict in Yemen. Under the circumstance where the Yemeni people are suffering from the war and COVID-19 at the same time, he called for alleviating tensions in the region, curbing the spread of COVID-19 and expediting humanitarian assistance for the Yemeni people.

° The Deputy Minister also stressed that, as could be seen from President Moon Jae-in’s announcement at the World Health Assembly on May 18 of a plan to contribute 100 million U.S. dollars in humanitarian assistance with regard to COVID-19 response, the ROK government will contribute actively to the international community’s response to COVID-19.

3. The government of the ROK, as a responsible member of the international community, will continue to take an active part in the international community’s efforts to help countries and people suffering from prolonged humanitarian crises due to conflicts, among others.