South Korea offers $ 7m in humanitarian aid to Iraq

South Korea has offered US$7 million in aid to help resolve the humanitarian crisis in Iraq, Seoul's Foreign Ministry was quoted by Yonhap on Thursday as saying.

Iraq has suffered from a deepening humanitarian crisis since the ISIL militant group began occupying large parts of the country in 2014.

According to official estimates, the number of people requiring humanitarian aid has increased from 5.2 million in January 2015 to 11 million this January. Of the total, 3.2 million people have been internally displaced. 

"Our government decided to provide assistance following a comprehensive review of the humanitarian crisis in Iraq, the international community's call for aid and other countries' provision of aid," the ministry said in a press release. 

The United Nations has designated Iraq as a country in the highest level of emergency amid the humanitarian crisis, along with Syria, South Sudan and Yemen. The international body has also called for a total of $860 million in aid for the nation. 

South Korea plans to send $3 million to the Funding Facility for Immediate Stabilization, with the remaining $4 million to be distributed through the WFP, WHO, UNHCR and UNICEF.