In this March 2020 file photo captured from the website of North Korea's main newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun, workers disinfect cargo containers at the country's western port of Nampo. (Rodong Sinmun)

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has provided North Korea with micronutrient treatments for 160,000 pregnant and lactating women, according to its recent report.

The items are the first supplies from UNICEF delivered to the reclusive North after it reopened western sea routes in October following monthslong border controls against the COVID-19 pandemic.

"After several months in quarantine at Nampo port, the first batch of nutrition supplies was released from disinfection, including micronutrient treatments sufficient to support 160,000 pregnant and lactating women," the UN agency's Humanitarian Situation Report on East Asia and Pacific Region said. The report covered UNICEF's activities in the fourth quarter of last year.

North Korea has been gradually opening its sea and land routes to bring in essential materials from abroad. (Yonhap)