North Korean children in a school in Wonsan | Image: NK News (Sept. 2017)

The U.N. has granted sanctions exemptions for two Canadian nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to deliver soymilk production tools and supplies for a children's hospital to North Korea.

First Steps Health Society (First Steps) and the Mennonite Central Committee Canada (MCC) will have until Nov. 29 and Aug. 29, 2025, respectively, to send the aid to the DPRK, according to the exemption notices from the U.N. Security Council's (UNSC) 1718 Sanctions Committee.