This picture taken on July 29, 2019 shows life jackets stored on the deck of the Ocean Viking, which conducts search and rescue activities in the central Mediterranean for French NGO SOS-Mediterranean and Doctors Without Borders, as it docks in Marseille. AFP-Yonhap

The U.N. Security Council committee on sanctions against North Korea has approved applications by two aid agencies to commence humanitarian activities in the reclusive state, its website showed Saturday, in the first such approval this year

On Tuesday, the committee gave the green light to Doctors Without Borders and the Swiss Humanitarian Aid Unit that have applied to take items to the North that are required for emergency medical support and repairs to a drinking water supply system, respectively.

Under the sanctions exemptions that will remain valid for six months, Doctors Without Borders can take 65 items, including medical microscopes, ambulances and tuberculosis diagnosis kits, to the North.

Detailed items the Swiss Humanitarian Aid Unit are allowed to bring were not made public. (Yonhap)