U.S. NGO granted sanctions exemption for work with disabled North Korean children | NK News

U.S. NGO granted sanctions exemption for work with disabled North Korean children | NK News



U.S. NGO granted sanctions exemption for work with disabled North Korean children
Ignis community plans to import materials for new Spine and Rehabilitation Centre in Pyongyang

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Oliver Hotham September 15, 2019


A U.S.-based Christian NGO was earlier in the month granted an exemption from international sanctions against North Korea, in a move aimed at facilitating the group’s work with children suffering from developmental disabilities.

The exemption, reported in a letter from the United Nations 1718 Sanctions Committee dated September 5, sees Ignis community granted permission to bring materials into the DPRK to be used in completing the construction of the Pyongyang Spine and Rehabilitation Centre (PYSRC).

The exemption, requested on the 24 July, covers “vital medical and rehabilitation equipment,” and is valid for six months.

It covers a range of goods, including exercise machines, spine adjustment tables, and ultrasound machines, sourced from both the U.S. and South Korea and is valued at $599,267.47, according to the letter.

The PYSRC, according to Ignis Community’s website, “was birthed out of a vision to see children with cerebral palsy (CP) in North Korea realize their full potential as contributing members of their society.”

“Prior to PYSRC, no official treatment existed because CP was considered to be untreatable or treated with lack of expertise.”

The project aims to both treat local patients and provide training to local doctors, it continues, and is developing two post-graduate courses in “Pediatric CP Therapy and Non-Surgical Spine Treatment.”

“Graduates from these specialty programs will return to their own provinces to begin therapy and treatment for rehabilitation patients and children with cerebral palsy throughout each province of North Korea,” the website says.The NGO has also taken North Korean doctors abroad | Photo: Ignis community

Ignis community (known in Korean as Sunyanghana) has been working on the PYSRC since 2013, and aims to begin full operation of the center by the “end of the year.”

The NGO, led by Korean-American couple Stephen and Joy Yoon, has also trained North Korean doctors abroad.

March saw Ignis facilitate a group of DPRK doctors’ visit to Hong Kong, where they received training in treating children suffering from cerebral palsy from South Korean doctors.

The exemption is the first to be granted by the UN sanctions committee since August, when French NGO Première Urgence Internationale (PUI) received permission to ship sanctioned items to the DPRK for projects aimed at improving goat milk production.

That permission followed others granted by the UN that month, with projects aimed at combating tuberculosis, addressing food shortages, and improving Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) provision also receiving green-lights from the committee.

Edited by James Fretwell

Featured image: Ignis community