The government says it will not change its decision to provide humanitarian aid to North Korea despite the regime's ballistic missile launch on Wednesday. 
 
Unification Ministry Deputy Spokesperson Lee Eugene told reporters on Friday that there is no change in the government’s position on providing humanitarian aid to Pyongyang regardless of the political situation. However, Lee said the timing of the aid will be decided after reviewing current conditions.
 
Meanwhile, Japan’s Sankei Shimbun reported that Seoul informed Tokyo early this week that it plans to take steps to provide the aid to the North. The paper added that as of Thursday, Tokyo has not received word from Seoul about any delay in taking those steps.
 
Seoul decided in September to provide eight-million dollars in humanitarian aid to the North via UNICEF and the World Food Programme. It has yet to hand over the aid to the international organizations.