A quarantine official measures a bus driver's temperature with an infrared thermometer in Pyongyang amid the regime's strengthened anti-COVID-19 efforts, Sept. 7. / Yonhap

By Park Han-sol

The South Korean government has approved private organizations' plans to send COVID-19 quarantine supplies to North Korea on six occasions, but actual delivery has not been made due to the North's rejection, according to the Ministry of Unification.

As part of its measures to provide COVID-19 aid to the North, the unification ministry approved a total of six requests to send supplies worth 1.76 billion won ($1.5 million) from South Korean nongovernmental organizations between March 31 and Aug. 12, Rep. Jeon Hae-cheol of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea said, Thursday, based on the ministry's report.

The items planned for provision include quarantine supplies such as disinfectants, face masks and test kits as well as thermal imaging cameras which were granted a temporary sanctions waiver by the United Nations.

However, despite winning approval, no supplies have actually made it across the border due to Pyongyang's rejection, the ministry reported.

The ministry presumed the North refused the aid from the South because it has been receiving unofficial aid from China and Russia, such as face masks and disinfectants, and the regime is afraid of the spread of COVID-19 through the transport of the supplies across the inter-Korean border.

The government added that the process of shipping quarantine supplies from international organizations including the World Health Organization, the International Federation of Red Cross and UNICEF under the sanctions waiver has also been difficult due to the North's border closure.

Pyongyang still claims to be "virus-free" with its officially reported number of confirmed COVID-19 cases remaining at zero, according to its state-run newspaper Rodong Sinmun, Wednesday.