Residents of Ginderis, a town in Syria's Aleppo province, on Feb. 7 pull out furniture and home appliances from the rubble of a building that collapsed due to the catastrophic earthquake that hit the day before. (Yonhap News)

By Park Hye Ri 

The government will provide USD 1 million worth of humanitarian aid to Syria, which was hit by the catastrophic earthquake on Feb. 6 along with Turkiye (Turkey). 

Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Lim Soosuk told a briefing on Feb. 16, "The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has requested humanitarian assistance from the international community in related to Syria, which was hit by a massive earthquake," adding, "So the government decided to offer humanitarian aid at the scale of USD 1 million to Syria through the U.N."  

"We hope that our government's support will help victims suffering from hardship and recovery from the damage."

In response to humanitarian issues caused by the Syrian civil war like the surge in refugees, Seoul since 2013 has provided humanitarian aid worth USD 150 million to Syria and its neighboring countries. 

The 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck southeastern Turkiye and northwestern Syria resulted in enormous loss of life and property.

Plagued by its civil war since 2011, Syria has no diplomatic relations with Korea. Seoul's latest round of humanitarian aid was thus sent through the U.N. rather than directly.

hrhr@korea.kr