The UN said it has secured only about 5 percent of the funds necessary to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic in North Korea.

In its July update for Global Humanitarian Response Plan COVID-19, published Monday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs disclosed the financial requirements to assist in responding to COVID-19 in each country and the funding status.

According to the report, the UN needs $39.7 million to help tackle COVID-19 in North Korea, but has so far received less than 5 percent of the financial requirement -- $1.8 million.

In the first update for the report disclosed in June, the UN had received $1.3 million for North Korea, and secured another half a million dollars in the following two months.

Still the funding status for North Korea ranks among the lowest of the 63 selected countries, along with Tanzania, Uganda and Benin.

“Without action, we’ll see the first increase in global poverty since 1990 and 270 million people facing starvation by the end of the year,” the report said.

North Korea still claims that it does not have a single person confirmed with COVID-19, but some 31,000 people in the country have been quarantined so far, according to Edwin Salvador, the World Health Organization’s representative to Pyongyang.

By Kim So-hyun (sophie@heraldcorp.com)