S. Korea pledges US$26 million in humanitarian aid for crisis-stricken Syria

SEOUL, South Korea has pledged to provide US$26 million in humanitarian aid to Syria and its neighboring regions to help ease the humanitarian crisis stemming from years of civil war, the foreign ministry said Tuesday. Kweon Ki-hwan, deputy foreign minister for global and multilateral affairs, made the announcement during the eighth Brussels Conference on "Supporting the future of Syria and the region," in Belgium on Monday (local time), the ministry said. The participating countries have pledged a total 3.9 billion euros ($4.2 billion) this year for the initiative, the ministry said. Kweon expressed concerns over the intensifying humanitarian crisis in Syria due to the conflicts that have been going on for more than 13 years and called for the importance of a political settlement to resolve the situation. Syria is facing a dire humanitarian situation as the prolonged civil war and unrest have devastated the country and its people. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates th at 1.5 percent of its 23.4 million population were killed between March 2011 and March 2021, and 71 percent are in need of humanitarian assistance. Source: Yonhap News Agency