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S. Korea to offer $12 million in aid to help Syria

February 4, 2016
FILE - This picture taken on Thursday, April. 24, 2014 and provided by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), U.N relief workers with blue helmets and vests stand next of residents of the besieged Palestinian camp of Yarmouk, right, who stand in line to receive aid food distributed by UNRWA, on the southern edge of the Syrian capital Damascus, Syria. On wednesday, April. 1, 2015 Islamic State militants infiltrated the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk in the Syrian capital marking the deepest foray yet by the extremist group into Damascus, seat of President Bashar Assad’s power, Syrian opposition activists and Palestinian officials said. (AP Photo/UNRWA, File )

FILE – This picture taken on Thursday, April. 24, 2014 and provided by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), U.N relief workers with blue helmets and vests stand next of residents of the besieged Palestinian camp of Yarmouk, right, who stand in line to receive aid food distributed by UNRWA, on the southern edge of the Syrian capital Damascus, Syria. (AP Photo/UNRWA, File )

SEOUL (Yonhap) — South Korea will provide $12 million worth of aid to help resolve the humanitarian crisis in Syria, Seoul officials said Friday.

The decision was made at an international donors’ conference in London that Lee Suk-joon, a lead officer for government policy coordination at the prime minister’s office, is to attend. He left for the meeting on Wednesday.

Seoul’s pledge came as Syria has been affected by a civil war for the past five years, prompting a humanitarian crisis for millions of people displaced from their homes.

The South Korean government has donated a total of $23.45 million for Syria between 2012 and 2015, according to the office.

Participating countries at the donor conference plan to provide an accumulative $9 billion this year.

South Korea is the first country in the world that has transformed into an aid donor from a recipient nation.