South Korea has pledged to donate around $5.73 million this year to international agencies to help with their aid projects for North Korea, the unification ministry said Thursday.

The money includes $4 million Seoul pledged in December for the World Health Organization's project to provide medical support for North Korean women and kids and $1.73 million promised to help the North's typhoon recovery efforts through the Red Cross, the ministry said.

The money represented the largest portion of the $9.43 million that countries in the world have pledged to donate this year for humanitarian assistance projects in the North.

South Korea was followed by Switzerland and Germany, which promised to donate $2.13 million and $670,000, respectively.

According to data provided by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), some $4.9 million, or 52 percent of the total promised donation, will be implemented through WHO. (Yonhap)