President Park Geun-hye’s administration needs to pay a serious heed to a recent report on North Korea’s infant mortality. The report by the National Assembly Research Service noted the North was in need of an outside supply of drugs and medical equipment to cope with its high infant mortality rate.

According to data from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency’s World Factbook, which was cited in the report, North Korea ranked 74th among 223 countries surveyed in 2014 in terms of the number of deaths per 1,000 infants under the age of 1. The North’s infant mortality rate stood at 23.68 -- 5.3 times the average for the 34-member Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and 6.1 times higher than that of South Korea.

The rate is regarded as a key barometer of the medical and hygienic conditions of a country.

The NARS report indicated that the high figure for North Korea resulted from a severe shortage of essential drugs and medical equipment, which the isolated and impoverished regime could not solve by itself. It suggested that medical support for the North should be centered on maternity and child care.

There is no barrier to providing such humanitarian support right now as it would not violate international sanctions imposed on Pyongyang following its nuclear and long-range missile tests. The assistance also needs not be subject to measures taken by the South in 2010 to ban all inter-Korean trade and exchanges in retaliation for the North’s bloody provocations.

Seoul should be more active in offering health care help to the North and encourage the international community to follow its lead.

These efforts would not only reduce the inter-Korean gap in medical conditions but help facilitate the eventual unification of the two Koreas. South Koreans should feel uneasy about letting nearly 24 out of 1,000 newborns in the North die before they reach the age of 1, compared to the corresponding figure in the South of 3.86.

North Korea has been preparing for an ostentatious military parade to celebrate the 70th founding anniversary of its ruling Workers’ Party on Oct. 10. The cost of holding the event could and should be better used to improve its people’s living standards, including health care conditions.

The North is seen to be refraining from launching a long-range rocket and conducing a nuclear test around the landmark anniversary as it has suggested. The mounting international warning of stricter sanctions may well be preventing the intransigent regime from going ahead with the threatened tests. What Pyongyang should ultimately do is to abandon its delusion of developing its nuclear arsenal and economy simultaneously.